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ICHNOGRAPHS 


FROM  THE 


i  SANDSTONE  OF  CONNECTICUT  RIVER. 


BY 


JAMES  <  DEANE, i  M.  D. 


BOSTON  : 

LITTLE,  BROWN  AND  COMPANY. 
LONDON:  S.  LOW,  SON  &  CO. 

18  6  1, 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861,  by 
LITTLE,  BROWN  AND  COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 

Allen  and  Farnham,  Printers. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  delineations  given  in  the  following  pages  were  made,  or  directed,  by  the 
late  Dr.  James  Deane,  of  Greenfield,  Massachusetts.  Living  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  quarries  whence  so  many  curious  traces  of  animals  and  of  physical 
phenomena  in  early  geological  times  have  been  derived,  he  had  from  the  first 
observed  them  and  become  deeply  interested  in  them.  Scarcely  a  specimen  of 
any  interest  was  obtained  that  did  not  pass  under  his  inspection ;  and  as  he 
beheld,  in  succession,  the  gigantic  vestige  since  called  Brontozoum  giganteum,  then 
the  smaller  ones,  gradually  descending  to  those  of  minute  size,  the  ripple 
marks,  rain  drops,  trails  of  insects  and  worms,  presenting  themselves,  he  aspired 
to  divine  and  determine,  if  possible,  their  true  nature  and  relations.  To  illus¬ 
trate  his  own  conclusions,  and  at  the  same  time  to  afford  others  enjoying  better 
subsidiary  advantages  than  himself  an  opportunity  to  pursue  the  same  line  of 
investigation,  and  judge  of  the  correctness  of  his  conclusions  or  substitute  their 
own,  he  undertook  to  give  delineations,  as  accurate  as  they  could  possibly  be 
made,  of  the  best  defined  and  most  characteristic  specimens.  Some  of  them  were 
executed  on  stone,  with  the  most  untiring  patience,  by  himself ;  others  were 
photographed  from  his  selections,  and  under  his  direction.  He  was  encouraged 
in  this  undertaking  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  which  engaged  to  defray  the 
expense  of  the  drawings  and  to  publish  the  work  in  its  “  Contributions.”  But 
in  the  midst  of  his  enterprise  he  died,  leaving  the  work,  both  plates  and  text, 
too  incomplete  to  be  issued  under  those  auspices.  It  seemed  sad,  however,  that 
such  exquisite  specimens  of  art,  such  contributions  to  science,  should  be  utterly 


4 


INTRODUCTION. 


sacrificed.  Some  of  his  friends,  therefore,  felt  impelled  to  collect  and  arrange, 
as  completely  as  they  were  able,  what  had  been  done,  and,  if  possible,  to  obtain 

from  subscribers  a  sufficient  sum  to  defray  the  expense  of  publication  at  least, 

and  perhaps  also  to  benefit  his  family.  With  the  cooperation  of  the  Smith¬ 
sonian  Institution,  which  generously  granted  the  use  of  the  drawings,  besides 
subscribing  for  a  large  number  of  copies,  the  object  has  been  accomplished,  and 
the  work  is  before  us.  We  believe  that  these  copies,  rivalling  as  they  do  the 
actual  specimens,  will  be  really  useful  to  those  pursuing  similar  scientific  investi¬ 
gations;  they  will  at  least  furnish  a  beautiful  table-book,  to  excite  an  interest 

in  the  community  in  the  marvels  of  nature. 

The  sketch  of  his  life  which  follows  is  an  abstract  of  a  Discourse  delivered  by 
Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch  to  the  Franklin  District  Medical  Society.  The  compilation 
of  the  text,  the  determination  of  the  species  and  the  additional  remarks  upon 
them,  and  the  references  to  the  original  specimens,  is  the  work  of  Thomas  T. 
Bouve,  Esq.,  who  particularly  desires  to  have  here  expressed  his  indebtedness  to 
Prof.  Hitchcock  and  to  Roswell  Field,  Esq.,  for  their  aid  in  enabling  him  to 
identify  many  of  the  stones  from  which  the  drawings  and  photographs  were 
taken,  and  for  other  assistance. 

AUGUSTUS  A.  GOULD. 

Boston,  January,  1861. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


BY  HENRY  I.  BOWDITCH,  M.  D. 


James  Deane  was  born  February  24,  1801,  at  Coleraine,  Franklin  County,  Mass. 
He  was  the  eighth  child  of  Christopher  and  Prudence  Deane.  His  father  was  a 
lineal  descendant  from  James  Deane,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Stonington,  Conn., 
whence  he  removed  to  Coleraine,  soon  after  his  marriage.  His  home  was  humble 
in  kind,  but  placed  most  magnificently  near  the  summit  of  one  of  the  highest  hills 
in  Franklin  County.  Monadnock  and  Wachusett  lay  immediately  within  sight,  and 
a  few  steps  from  the  house  enabled  the  boy  to  reach  a  height  whence  he 
could,  at  a  glance  toward  the  wide  horizon,  see  all  the  southern  Massachusetts 
hills.  An  intense  love  of  nature  and  beauty  seems  thus  to  have  been  awakened 
in  him  from  his  earliest  years. 

His  father  was  a  hard-working  farmer,  of  a  strong  mind,  and  rather  puritanic, 
conservative  character.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  sterling  piety,  good  sense, 
and  of  a  more  genial  nature.  She  died  when  he  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age  ; 
and  he  always  cherished  her  memory  with  that  strength  of  feeling  that  every 
true-hearted  son  has  for  a  noble  mother.  Her  death  made  a  profound  impression 
on  him  ;  and  a  desire  to  quit  home,  and  to  seek  his  fortune  elsewhere,  took  pos¬ 
session  of  him  from  that  hour. 

In  very  early  life  he  attended  the  district  public  school  during  the  winter ; 
and  subsequently  he  was  allowed  to  attend,  for  one  term,  Deerfield  Academy.  He 
was  likewise  permitted  to  study  Latin  for  a  time,  under  the  direction  of  Isaac 
B.  Barber,  Esq.,  a  lawyer  of  Coleraine.  Later  in  life  he  studied  French. 

If  we  may  believe  his  own  account  of  himself,  he  was  a  clownish  youth ;  but, 
as  one  of  his  schoolmates  states,  there  was  a  nameless  something  about  him  that 


6 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


caused  him  to  be  respected  by  all  his  comrades  as  one  superior  to  themselves, 
though  rather  incomprehensible. 

When  he  was  about  nineteen,  convinced  that  his  son  would  never  be  content 
with  the  life  of  a  farmer,  his  father  consented  to  let  him  seek  his  fortune  upon 
a  larger  field.  Accordingly,  with  the  blessing  of  his  parents,  he  started  for 
Boston  in  search  of  a  clerkship,  or  at  least  for  some  position  more  congenial 
to  his  nature.  But  no  path  opening  to  him  for  employment,  he  returned, 
after  a  few  days’  absence,  to  his  country  home. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  took  a  final  leave  of  his  home,  without  a 
penny  in  his  pocket,  but  with  a  brave,  manly,  honest  heart  beating  warmly 
and  hopefully  in  his  bosom.  He  went  to  Greenfield,  and  offered  himself  as 
clerk  to  Elijah  Alvord,  Esq.,  then  Clerk  of  the  Court  and  Register  of  Probate. 
Fortunate  beyond  expression  was  the  poor  youth  in  meeting  this  excellent  man. 
Mr.  Alvord  seems  early  to  have  appreciated  the  many  high  qualities  possessed 
by  his  young  assistant.  He  seems,  moreover,  to  have  felt  more  than  most  persons 
do,  the  responsibility  that  was  imposed  upon  himself  to  aid  such  a  man  in  his 
career.  Mr.  Deane  was  received  into  the  family,  and  there  resided  for  four 
years.  These  were  some  of  the  happiest  in  his  life.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alvord 
treated  him  like  a  son.  His  heart  and  intellect  expanded  under  the  warm 
influences  of  a  kindly  sympathy,  and  a  sense  of  gratification  in  the  performance 
of  more  pleasant  and  more  profitable  duties.  The  same  unobtrusive  deportment, 
and  an  entire  faithfulness  in  the  performance  of  every  duty,  with  a  rich  vein 
of  genial  humor  underlying  all  his  actions,  marked  his  career.  The  emolument 
was  small ;  but  with  it  he  was  enabled  not  only  to  aid  his  parents,  but  to  pay 
for  the  education  of  a  younger  sister. 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  engagement  with  Mr.  Alvord,  that  gentleman 
permitted  him,  while  still  a  clerk  in  the  office,  to  become  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Brigham, 
at  that  time  an  eminent  practitioner  in  Greenfield,  and  to  spend  a  part  of  each 
day  in  study.  In  1829-1830  he  attended  his  first  course  of  Lectures  in  New 
York,  given  by  the  well  known  and  able  Professors  Delafield,  Stevens,  Smith, 
Beck,  and  their  associates. 

He  received  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  March,  1831,  and  soon  after¬ 
wards  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Greenfield.  He  had  no  intro¬ 
duction  save  his  own  character  and  mind,  and  those  who  knew  him  are  well 
aware  that  no  man  was  ever  less  a  trumpeter  of  his  own  fame.  Many  physicians 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


7 


entered  the  town  at  this,  and  at  subsequent  periods,  but  almost  all  retired  before 
bis  death,  long  before  which  time  his  own  success  had  become  complete.  I 
think  it  may  be  said,  not  invidiously,  that  he  took  the  first  rank  as  a  surgeon 
in  that  vicinity.  For  many  years  he  experienced  the  bitter  influences  of  poverty. 
But  though  straitened  in  means,  he  would  never  consent  to  become  a  mere 
routinist  in  the  profession.  He  knew  that  there  was  progress,  and  he  determined 
not  to  fall  behind  the  foremost.  Accordingly,  in  1849,  he  quitted  practice  and 
spent  several  weeks  in  study  at  New  York  with  immense  advantage. 

In  1837,  six  years  after  beginning  practice,  he  sent  a  communication  to  the 
Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.  From  that  time  until  January,  1855,  he 
was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  pages  of  that  journal.  These  papers  are  all 
written  in  a  curt,  pithy  style,  exactly  to  the  point,  with  not  a  word  too  many 
or  too  few.  He  evidently  never  writes  for  mere  effect,  but  simply  to  tell,  as 
clearly  and  as  concisely  as  possible,  whatever  he  meets  with  in  his  daily  practice 
that  he  thinks  will  be  of  real  value  to  his  profession.  The  papers  are  mostly 
on  the  surgical  cases,  but  he  likewise  records  some  very  interesting  cases  in 
medicine  proper  and  pathology.  We  can  trace  the  gradual  rising  of  his  repu¬ 
tation  by  the  gradually  increasing  severity  of  the  accidents  mentioned.  These 
records,  by  their  gentle  allusions  and  occasional  bursts  of  real  feeling,  demonstrate 
that  he  never  operated  without  having  a  feminine  tenderness  for  the  suffering 
of  his  patients. 

In  February,  1854,  he  delivered  an  address  before  the  Franklin  District  Medical 
Society,  admirable  in  its  philosophy,  and  wise  in  the  accumulated  experience  of 
seventeen  years  of  active  practice.  The  subject  of  this  address  was  “Fractures 
of  the  Thigh.” 

In  May,  1855,  he  prepared,  at  the  request  of  a  committee  of  the  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Medical  Society,  a  communication  on  the  “Hygienic  Condition  of  the 
Survivors  of  Ovariotomy.” 

In  1854  he  was  chosen  Vice-President  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
which  office  he  held  for  the  usual  period  of  two  years. 

We  have  alluded  to  Dr.  Deane’s  delight  in  nature.  Even  while  a  mere  child 
he  made  his  juvenile  scientific  investigations  upon  the  growth  of  trees,  and  spent 
his  time  much  more  eagerly  in  the  woods  and  along  the  trout  brooks  than  in 
the  milking  of  cows. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1835,  with  many  of  his  fellow-citizens,  he  noticed 


8 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


some  curious  impressions  upon  si  airs  of  stratified  sandstone  that  had  been  brought 
from  Turner’s  Falls,  near  Greenfield,  to  be  used  for  sidewalks  in  the  village. 
One  of  the  wisest  of  his  fellow  townsmen  remarked,  “  W e  all  saw  them,  and, 
mentally  at  least,  exclaimed,  ‘  they  are  bird-tracks,’  and  then  went  away  and 
thought  no  more  about  them.”  Dr.  Deane  alone  recognized  in  their  mute 
teachings  sublime  indications  of  an  Almighty  hand.  He  seems  from  that  moment 
to  have  entered  upon  the  investigation  of  the  whole  subject  with  that  earnest 
but  quiet  and  never  yielding  enthusiasm,  that  had  always  been  his  peculiar 
characteristic.  He  sought  knowledge  everywhere  upon  the  subject.  He  visited 
the  spot  whence  the  slabs  had  been  procured.  He  wrote  to  the  men  most  noted 
for  their  learning  in  geology.  At  first,  the  whole  scientific  world  was  against 
his  belief  that  they  were  the  tracks  of  birds.  Gradually  the  naturalists  of  this 
country,  and  many  in  Europe,  yielded  to  the  accumulated  evidence,  and  more 
especially  to  the  facts  as  subsequently  given  to  the  public  by  Prof.  Hitchcock 
in  a  scientific  form ;  and  the  tracks  became  generally  regarded  as  those  of  birds. 
There  is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  before  his  death,  Dr.  Deane  materially 
modified  his  opinion  on  this  point.  In  proof  of  it  we  could  refer  to  conver¬ 
sations  held  with  Mr.  Roswell  Field  and  others,  a  few  months  before  his  decease, 
and  to  letters  to  Drs.  Gould  and  Wyman,  which  will  be  quoted  in  the  text. 
It  is  not,  however,  upon  the  precise  point  as  to  whether  these  tracks  were  those 
of  birds  or  otherwise,  that  we  dwell.  The  object  we  have  in  view  is  to  show 
that  from  the  first  moment  that  the  tracks  came  under  his  observation  they 
were  ever  the  source  of  deep  interest  and  severe  study  for  him.  Particularly 
was  this  the  case  during  the  last  few  years  and  months  of  his  life,  when  every 
moment  that  could  be  spared  from  great  professional  labor  Avas  directed  to  this 
his  darling  study.  In  proof  of  this,  let  the  following  facts  and  statements  be 
noted. 

In  1844  he  sent  a  paper  to  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  which  Avas 
published,  Avitli  drawings ;  and  he  remarks  that  it  is  “  to  accumulate  facts  that 
bear  upon  this  interesting  subject  ”  that  he  presents  the  communication. 

In  1845  (vol.  49,  p.  79)  he  describes  other  species  of  tracks,  probably  those 
of  a  batrachian  reptile.  He  closes  Avitli  these  Avords  :  “  An  indescribable  interest 
is  imparted  by  opening  the  long-sealed  volume  that  contains  the  records  of  these 
extinct  animals.  The  slabs  Avere  uncovered  and  raised  under  my  supervision, 
and  page  after  page,  Avitli  their  living  inscriptions,  revealed  living  truths.  There 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


9 


were  the  characters,  fresh  as  upon  the  morning  when  they  were  impressed ; 
reminding  the  spectator  of  the  brevity  of  human  antiquity,  and  of  the  frail  tenure 
of  human  works.  On  that  morning,  how  long  ago  no  one  can  tell  or  will  ever 
know,  gentle  showers  watered  the  earth,  an  ocean  was  unruffled,  and  upon  its 
borders  primaeval  beings  enjoyed  their  existence,  and  inscribed  their  eventful 
history.”  In  a  more  elaborate  paper  (vol.  48,  p.  158)  he  describes  new  discov¬ 
eries,  a  stupendous  impression  of  a  foot  half  a  yard  long,  and  callable  of  holding 
half  a  gallon  of  water !  He  adds :  “  What  was  the  real  magnitude  of  this  powerful 
bird?  He  maintained  his  supremacy  throughout  the  entire  period  of  the  new 
red  sandstone  deposition,  while  other  varieties,  though  gigantic  and  powerful, 
became  extinct.  He  was  endowed  with  a  physical  frame  fitted  to  endure  the 
turbulence  of  the  era  in  which  he  reigned  supreme  monarch  of  his  race,  and  was 
finally  exterminated  only  by  the  all-pervading  catastrophes  that  swept  from  the 
earth  other  vast  creatures  which  were  his  contemporaries,  but  not  his  conquerors.” 

In  1847  he  describes  the  track  of  a  quadruped,  being  the  fourth  that  had 
been  discovered.  He  infers  that  these  early  inhabitants  of  this  planet  frequented 
regions  which  were  periodically,  or  at  least  occasionally,  submerged.  He  discusses 
the  causes,  and  thinks  these  inundations  arose  from  sudden  floods. 

Finally,  in  1848  (January),  he  gives  a  very  brief  account  of  another  quad¬ 
ruped  track. 

Meanwhile,  he  had  sent  some  specimens  and  a  letter,  dated  Sept.  20,  1842, 
to  Dr.  Mantell  in  England.  This  gentleman  laid  the  communication  and  the  tracks 
before  the  Geological  Society  of  London.  The  previous  scepticism  of  Prof.  Owen 
and  of  other  eminent  geologists  and  palaeontologists  was  thoroughly  overcome 
by  this  communication,  conjoined,  as  it  was,  with  the  discovery  of  the  Dinornis 
of  New  Zealand.  Dr.  Mantell  remarks,  “Your  brief  and  lucid  description,”  with 
the  specimens,  has  placed  this  subject  before  the  geologists  of  England  in  a  “most 
clear  and  satisfactory  light ;  ”  and  “  the  thanks  of  the  Society  were  warmly  and 
unanimously  expressed  for  so  valuable  a  communication.” 

In  1849  a  still  more  elaborate  memoir,  with  many  plates,  was  sent  to  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  was  published  in  the  Memoirs  of 
the  Academy,  Vol.  IV.  New  Series. 

Two  similar  papers  were  published,  in  1850  and  1856,  by  the  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences  at  Philadelphia ;  and  in  one  of  these  he  first  describes  the 
minute  tracks  ascribed  to  insects  (Vol.  II.  7,  and  Vol.  III.  173). 

q 


10 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


It  will  not  be  here  attempted  to  give  an  analysis  of  these  papers.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  in  them  he  alludes  not  only  to  bird-tracks,  but  to  impressions 
made  by  many  different  kinds  of  the  lower  animals,  even  to  those  of  insects 
and  crustaceans. 

During  all  the  time  he  was  preparing  these  papers  he  was  constantly  making 
drawings  of  new  specimens,  hoping  that  at  some  future  day  the  complete  whole 
might  be  published  as  the  crowning  labor  of  his  life.  Nothing  could  be  more 

touching  than  the  quiet  but  determined  manner  with  which  he  went  on  daily 

accumulating  his  facts.  Utterly  unable  to  see  how,  with  his  small  means,  the 
work  could  ever  see  the  light,  he  still  struggled  on  in  a  sublime  faith.  The 
amount  of  labor  he  performed  seems  quite  marvellous  when  we  remember  that 
he  was  constantly  engaged  in  an  extensive  practice,  which  spared  to  him  no 
certain  hours  of  study.  Called  hither  and  thither  over  an  extent  of  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  radius,  surrounded  by  quackery  that  gnawed  at  and  traduced  him ; 
conscious  of  his  powers,  yet  morbidly  sensitive  to  the  idea  that  he  was  not  duly 
appreciated  by  some  whom  he  respected,  it  was,  doubtless,  with  a  sense  of  divine 
consolation  that  he  turned  to  these  relics  of  a  past  era,  and  with  a  generous 
ambition  labored  to  present  them  to  his  fellows.  As  LaGrange  of  old  sought 
“  in  his  peaceful  mathematics  ”  a  relief  from  the  world,  so  our  friend  found,  in 

this  beautiful  study,  a  never-failing  resource  from  the  corroding  cares  of  earth. 

In  1836,  Dr.  Deane  married  Miss  Mary  Clapp  Russell,  of  Greenfield.  He  was 
eminently  a  domestic  man,  a  most  tender  husband  and  loving  parent.  His  towns¬ 
men  will  long  remember  his  upright,  manly  intercourse  with  them  as  neighbor,  friend, 
and  physician.  Though  a  man  of  few  words,  he  was  eminently  genial  and  social. 
He  possessed  to  a  remarkable  degree  a  love  of  fun  and  a  power  of  mimicry, 
ordinarily  masked,  however,  by  the  graver  tones  of  his  character.  In  his  political 
views  and  actions  he  was  clear  and  reliable.  Without  offensively  thrusting  his 
opinions  upon  any  one,  he  was  no  coward  in  the  utterance  of  any  sentiment  he 
thought  right.  Throughout  adult  life  he  was  a  consistent  and  fearless  defender 
of  the  rights  of  man.  His  taste  for  the  sister  arts  of  music  and  painting  was 
admirable  and  wholly  natural,  for  he  had  no  instructors.  From  boyhood,  he  used 
his  pencil  and  his  pen  in  free  but  extraordinarily  accurate  sketches.  We  hazard 
nothing  in  saying,  that,  had  he  chosen  either  music  or  drawing  as  a  profession, 
he  must  necessarily  have  taken  a  first  rank  among  the  professors  of  those  twin 
handmaids  of  Beauty.  He  has  left  some  few  rhythmical  attempts,  torsos,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  divine  art  of  Poesy. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE. 


11 


He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  Amherst  College 
in  1838,  and  was  a  Corresponding  Member  of  Natural  History  Societies  of  Mon¬ 
treal  and  Boston. 

In  his  professional  relations  he  was  exemplary  in  all  points  of  etiquette,  but 
it  is  to  be  feared,  that,  holding  as  he  did  the  profession  of  medicine  in  the 
highest  esteem,  he  was  morbidly  sensitive  to  the  support  of  quackery  evinced 
by  some  in  whom  he  thought  to  see  a  wiser  course  of  conduct.  He  forgot  that 
while  credulity  and  hope  remain  in  the  human  heart  on  one  side,  and  craftiness 
or  folly  exists  on  the  other,  quackery  will  always  flourish.  In  his  religious  views 
he  was  simple  and  true,  but  his  precise  opinions  in  regard  to  specific  doctrines 
were  not  formally  avowed.  This  much  may  he  asserted  of  him :  he  believed 
that  no  profession  compared  with  a  life  of  goodness.  His  reverence  and  love  of 
God  were  unbounded.  He  had  always  lived  among  the  hills,  surrounded  by  the 
beauty  of  God’s  works,  and  his  soul  bowed  before  him  as  the  beneficent  Creator 
and  loving  Father. 

In  reviewing  the  prominent  facts  of  Dr.  Deane’s  life,  we  find  him,  as  a  child 
of  poor  but  religious  parents,  drinking  in,  with  every  sense,  all  the  beauty  and 
grandeur  of  nature  so  lavishly  spread  before  him.  Early  in  life,  and  perhaps 
unconsciously,  he  makes  his  protest  against  mere  physical  labor,  and  devotes  him¬ 
self  to  the  cultivation  of  his  intellect  and  his  tastes.  He  grows  slowly,  without 
show  or  special  elegance,  but  with  a  solid  firmness.  Turning  readily  to  that 
noble  profession  which  is  so  capable  of  enriching  the  mind  and  expanding  the 
heart  of  its  votary,  he  reaches  the  highest  point  of  reputation  with  his  peers, 
his  professional  associates.  During  these  professional  engagements  in  the  daily 
walks  of  life,  he  still  keeps  his  eyes  open  to  the  revelations  of  nature.  Horti¬ 
culture  is  his  pleasant  recreation,  and  a  drive  among  the  hills  gives  him  infinite 
delight.  Suddenly  he  awakes  to  a  new  existence  in  the  recognition  of  the  sublime 
significance  wrapped  up  in  a  simple  footstone  near  his  dwelling.  His  highest, 
his  religious  nature,  is  ever  afterwards  constantly  appealed  to,  while  bringing  to 
light  specimen  after  specimen  of  these  relics  of  a  past  age.  Each  part  of  his 
life  seems  fitted  “by  natural  piety”  to  all  the  others.  With  the  exception 
derived  from  the  inherent  imperfections  of  our  nature,  we  see  a  beautiful  and 
symmetrical  whole,  a  well-proportioned,  stalwart  intellect,  guided  by  an  honest, 
earnest,  religious  soul. 

Dr.  Deane  was  of  a  tall  and  commanding  form,  half  a  head  taller  than  most 


12 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE, 


men,  and  of  a  well-knit,  compact  frame.  His  very  walk  conveyed  an  idea  of 
strength.  Having  enjoyed  more  health  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  man,  he 
for  almost  the  first  time  in  his  life  was  seriously  ill  in  1853.  Though  he  recov¬ 
ered  completely,  this  illness  seems  to  have  taught  him  the  frail  tenure  of  his 
life.  During  the  spring  of  1858  he  began  to  suffer  from  headaches,  and  he  was 
less  well  generally.  Finally,  about  three  weeks  before  his  death,  he  was  struck 
down  by  a  typhoidal  series  of  symptoms,  which  gradually  augmented  until  he 
quietly  sunk  into  his  last  sleep,  June  8,  1858,  amid  the  universal  sorrows  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lived. 


LIST  OF  PUBLISHED  PAPERS. 


In  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal. 

1.  Congenital  Fissures  of  the  Palate.  Vol.  16,  page  333,  June  28,  1837. 

2.  Extraordinary  case  of  Spasms  of  the  Voluntary  Muscles.  Vol.  28,  336.  1843. 

3.  Polypus  in  Utero,  of  unusual  size.  Vol.  30,  p.  449.  July,  1844. 

4.  Case  of  Carditis;  very  curious;  allusions,  likewise,  to  the  treatment  pursued  in  a  case 

of  Obstinate  Constipation.  Vol.  32,  p.  158.  1845. 

5.  Iodine  Injections  in  the  Treatment  of  Hydrocele,  etc.  Vol.  33,  p.  18.  1845. 

6.  Inhalation  of  Ether ;  cases.  Vol.  37,  p.  18.  December,  1847. 

7.  Fibrous  Tumors  of  the  Uterus ;  Gastrotomy ;  very  interesting,  as  he  was  obliged  to 

close  the  wound  without  removal  of  tumor;  recovery  of  patient.  Vol.  32,  p.  221. 
October,  1848. 

8.  Abscess  of  the  Tibia;  trephining  of  the  bone.  Vol.  43,  p.  131.  September,  1856. 

9.  Ovariotomy;  cases;  practical  suggestions.  Vol.  44,  p.  474.  1851. 

10.  Lithotripsy  in  a  Female.  Vol.  46,  p.  20.  1852. 

11.  Tumors  of  Various  Kinds;  diagnosis,  etc.  Vol.  46,  p.  400.  1852. 

12.  Chronic  Laryngitis ;  case.  Vol.  46,  p.  503.  1853. 

13.  Popliteal  Aneurism ;  operations.  Vol.  48,  p.  141.  June,  1853. 

14.  Union  of  Divided  Fingers;  cases.  Vol.  48,  p.  329.  May,  1853. 

15.  Immense  Tumor  of  the  Parotid;  operation;  radical  cure.  Vol.  48,  p.  486.  Jan¬ 

uary,  1854. 

16.  Fractures  of  the  Femur  and  their  Treatment;  an  address  delivered  before  the  Franklin 

District  Medical  Society,  at  their  meeting  in  February,  1854.  Vol.  50,  p.  57. 

17.  Polypus  of  the  Uterus.  Vol.  51,  p.  141.  September,  1854. 

18.  Ligature  of  the  Femoral  Artery;  important  case.  Vol.  53,  p.  1.  August,  1855. 

19.  Case  of  Osteo- Aneurism ;  very  interesting.  Vol.  53,  p.  444.  December,  1855. 


14 


LIST  OF  PUBLISHED  PAPERS. 


In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 

1.  On  the  Hygienic  Condition  of  the  Survivors  of  Ovariotomy.  It  was  likewise  repub¬ 
lished  by  John  Wilson  &  Co.,  Boston. 

In  Silliman’s  Journal  of  Science. 

1.  Letter  to  Dr.  Mantell,  etc.  Vol.  45,  p.  178.  October,  1843. 

2.  On  Fossil  Footmarks  of  Turner’s  Falls;  plate.  Vol.  46,  p.  73.  April,  1844. 

3.  On  the  Discovery  of  the  Fossil  Footmarks.  Vol.  47,  p.  292.  October,  1844. 

4.  Fossil  Prints  in  the  New  Red  Sandstone  of  the  Connecticut  Valley;  Batrachian- 

Reptile  or  Marsupial- Mammalian  tracks ;  rain  drops,  with  plate.  Vol.  48,  p.  158.  1845. 

5.  Extract  from  a  Letter  to  Prof.  Silliman.  Vol.  49,  p.  213.  1845. 

6.  Notices  of  New  Fossil  Footprints.  Vol.  3,  New  Series,  p.  75.  January,  1847. 

7.  Footprints  of  a  New  Species  of  Quadruped.  Vol.  5,  p.  40.  1848. 

In  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

1.  Illustrations  of  Fossil  Footprints  of  the  Valley  of  the  Connecticut;  with  nine  plates. 
Vol.  4,  New  Series,  p.  209.  1849. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences ,  Philadelphia. 

1.  Fossil  Footprints  of  Connecticut  River.  Vol.  2,  Second  Series,  p.  71.  1850-1854. 

2.  On  Sandstone  Fossils  of  Connecticut  River.  Vol.  3,  Part  3,  p.  173. 


UPON 


THE  FOSSIL  FOOTPRINTS  AND  OTHER  IMPRESSIONS 


OF  THE 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE, 


BY 


JAMES  DEANE,  M.  TX 


The  compiler  of  the  incomplete  papers  left  by  Dr.  Deane  has  not  deemed 
it  desirable  that  he  himself  should  undertake  to  describe,  scientifically,  such 
impressions  as  Dr.  Deane  left  no  particular  description  of,  especially  as  the 
recently  published  work  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  upon  the  Ichnology  of  Massachusetts, 
embraces  an  account  of  perhaps  all  the  species.  He  has  therefore  limited  his 
own  attempts  in  the  notices  of  the  Plates,  to  obtaining  references  to  the  stones 
from  which  they  were  taken,  and  the  cabinets  in  which  these  stones  are  now 
to  be  found ;  to  a  determination  of  the  species,  and  the  works  in  which  they 
are  described ;  and  more  especially,  to  their  identification  with  species  given  in 
the  Ichnology  of  Massachusetts ;  adding  such  other  matter  of  general  character 
as  he  judged  might  be  of  service. 

The  colored  lithographs  are  in  the  same  style  as  those  given  by  Isaac  Lea, 
Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  accompanying  his  Memoir  on  the  Sauropus  primaevus,  and 
which  were  much  admired.  They  represent  well  the  prevailing  tint  of  the  sand¬ 
stone.  The  drawings  which  were  made  by  Dr.  Deane  on  stone,  it  may  be  confi¬ 
dently  stated,  can  never  be  surpassed.  Their  accuracy  makes  the  possession  of 
the  Plates  almost  as  valuable,  even  for  scientific  descriptions,  as  the  original 
specimens. 

The  nine  Plates,  1G,  17,  31,  40,  41,  and  43  to  46  inclusive,  which  it  was 
intended  to  give  in  photo-lithographs,  are  direct  photographs  from  the  original 
stones,  and  are  exquisite  specimens  of  art. 

T.  T.  BOUVE. 


3 


MEMOIR. 


The  object  of  the  following  memoir  is  to  illustrate  the  sandstone  footprints 
of  Connecticut  River.  The  broad  range  of  animal  organization  suggested  by  these 
expressive  vestiges,  and  the  remote  geological  antiquity  of  the  formation  in  which 
they  occur,  are  considerations  that  invest  them  with  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
scientific  interest.  Prior  to  their  discovery  the  sandstone  rock  was  considered 
to  be  quite  barren  of  the  indications  of  animal  life ;  but,  in  place  of  its  former 
insignificance,  it  is  now  known  to  be  exceedingly  rich  in  the  evidences  of  organic 
existence. 

Literary  History  of  the  Footprints.  —  The  earliest  written  descriptions  of  the  foot¬ 
prints  were  communicated  by  the  author  to  several  gentlemen  of  scientific  emi¬ 
nence,  in  the  year  1835.  In  these  original  accounts  the  impressions  were  described 
as  belonging  to  birds,  and  the  probable  manner  of  their  occurrence  explained. 
The  first  published  account  appeared  in  the  Journal  of  Arts  and  Sciences  for 
1836,  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Hitchcock.  Other  occasional  papers  by  this  gentleman 
were  subsequently  communicated  through  the  same  channel.  A  more  complete 
treatise  was  published  by  Dr.  Hitchcock,  in  his  Final  Report  to  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  in  1842,  and  another  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  Several  papers  were  also  pre¬ 
sented  by  him  to  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  at 
the  annual  sessions  of  that  body. 

Single  papers,  descriptive  of  sandstone  footprints,  have  been  communicated  to 
the  public  by  several  gentlemen.  By  William  C.  Redfield,  Esq.  (Am.  Jour,  of 
Sci.  vol.  34,  p.  134);  by  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  (pamphlet);  by  Dr.  Alfred  T.  King 
(Proc.  Acad,  of  Nat.  Sci.) ;  by  Isaac  Lea,  Esq.,  several  illustrated  papers  upon  foot- 


20 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


prints  and  bones  from  the  New  Red  Sandstone  of  Pennsylvania  (Proc.  Am.  Phil. 
Soc.  1849) ;  and  by  Charles  Lyell,  Esq.,  upon  Footprints  of  Birds  and  Impressions 
of  Rain-drops  in  the  Valley  of  the  Connecticut  River,  communicated  to  the  London 
Geological  Society. 

The  descriptive  papers  hitherto  published  by  the  author  have  been  contributed 
to  various  numbers  of  Silliman’s  Journal;  to  the  Journals  of  the  Society  of  Nat¬ 
ural  History,  Boston;  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia;  and  to  the 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Boston. 

This  list,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  ascertain,  includes  the  principal  contributors 
to  the  literature  of  the  sandstone  footprints  of  this  country.  It  is  also  proper 
to  allude  to  the  successful  labors  of  those  gentlemen  who  have  quietly  pursued 
their  investigations  in  the  field  without  recording  the  results  of  their  obser¬ 
vations.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  was  the  late  Mr.  Marsh  of  Greenfield, 
who  accumulated  a  series  of  footprints  of  great  value  to  science.  Roswell  Field, 
Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  acute  powers  of  observation,  succeeded  Mr.  Marsh  as  an 
explorer;  and,  possessing  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject,  began  at  once 
to  make  discoveries  of  significant  importance.  His  estate,  being  at  Turner’s  Falls, 
embraces  the  richest  localities  yet  discovered,  and  his  success  has  been  very  remark¬ 
able.  In  the  preparation  of  this  paper  the  author  will  have  frequent  occasions 
to  acknowledge  his  obligations  to  him  for  original  materials  and  observations. 

Analogies  of  the  Footprints.  —  It  is  proper,  for  a  clear  comprehension  of  this 
topic,  to  premise,  that  the  footprints  will  be  assumed  to  indicate  animals  whose 
representatives  are  included  in  the  existing  classes  of  Birds,  Reptiles,  and  Insects ; 
and  there  are  also  presumptive  proofs  that  the  Mammalian  class  also  coexisted. 
The  birds  may,  with  probability,  lie  subdivided  into  two  principal  orders,  —  the 
waders  proper,  and  the  brevipennate  or  struthious  tribes.  They  were  usually 
tridactylous,  but  a  portion  of  them  possessed  a  fourth  or  rudimentary  toe,  that 
performed  no  part  in  the  office  of  walking.  Without  exception  there  are  three 
toes  pointing  forward,  and  there  are  never  more  than  four  toes.  Each  of  these 
divisions  of  the  ornithoid  footprints  included  a  great  variety  and  combination  of 
forms,  some  of  which  continued  to  be  produced  throughout  the  entire  deposition 
of  the  sandstone  rock,  while  others  successively  disappeared  and  were  replaced 
by  new  and  distinct  creations. 

The  reptilian  footprints,  although  numerous,  bear  but  a  small  proportion  to 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


21 


those  of  the  birds,  in  number  or  variety.  A  portion  of  this  class  of  footprints 
appears  to  indicate  animals  intimately  related  to  existing  saurian  reptiles ;  but 
another  portion  of  them,  comprising  several  distinct  varieties,  cannot  be  compared 
with  any  known  type.  They  are  both  quadrupedal  and  bipedal,  and,  considered 
as  a  class,  possess  extraordinary  interest. 

The  structural  organizations  of  the  extinct  animals  can  only  be  inferred  by 
applying  the  laws  of  comparison  to  the  impress  of  their  feet;  for  the  configura¬ 
tion  of  the  footprint  presents  the  only  practical  basis  for  comparison,  and  it 
fortunately  happens  that  impressions  occur  so  accurately  defined  as  to  supply,  in 
an  eminent  degree,  an  equivalent  for  the  missing  bones  of  the  animal  to  whom 
they  are  due.  It  would  seem  that  the  exact  impress  of  the  foot  offers  a  basis 
of  analogy  little  inferior  in  value  to  the  foot  itself.  We  instinctively  judge  of 
the  physical  organizations  of  familiar  animals  by  their  footprints ;  and  the  diffi¬ 
culty  in  comprehending  the  organisms  of  the  extinct  animals  lies,  in  a  great 
degree,  in  an  insufficient  acquaintance  with  the  footprints  of  their  living  successors. 
If  living  animals  be  found  whose  footprints  conform  in  every  essential  particular 
to  the  fossil  impression,  it  must  in  reason  he  conceded,  that  the  organization  and 
habits  of  the  extinct  and  living  types  are  also  conformable. 

The  comparison  of  the  supposed  ornithoid  vestiges  with  the  footprints  of 
living  birds  is  unequivocal ;  a  remarkable  agreement  exists  between  them ;  but 
in  the  reptilian  impressions,  that  do  not  usually  exhibit  the  phalangeal  divisions 
of  the  toes,  the  grounds  of  analogy  are  not  so  clear.  There  are,  moreover, 
examples  of  this  class  of  footprints,  of  a  character  so  anomalous,  as,  in  the  present 
state  of  science,  to  defy  comparison.  Certain  forms  of  the  footprints  (PI.  37) 
indicate  bipedal  monsters,  that,  in  respect  to  magnitude  and  intricate  mechanism 
of  the  feet,  are  without  analogy  in  existing  nature.  The  original  from  which 
this  Plate  is  reduced,  is  seventeen  inches  in  length  and  eleven  in  breadth,  and 
its  impress  is  without  blemish.  Other  bipedal  reptiles  existed,  that  were  distin¬ 
guished  for  their  diminutive  proportions,  whose  footprints  are  represented  in  Plates 
38  and  39.  A  formidable  obstacle  to  comparison  exists  in  the  fact,  that  a  certain 

portion  of  the  extinct  animals  appears  to  have  been  invested  with  diversified 

powers  of  locomotion.  It  is  presumed  they  could  walk  as  quadrupeds  (Pis. 

33  and  34)  or  jump  like  the  kangaroo  (Pis.  31  and  32);  and  it  may  hereafter 

be  inferred  that  they  could  also  walk  upon  their  posterior  feet  as  bipeds.  If 
this  inference  be  sustained,  we  may  look  in  vain  for  living  representatives  whose 
powers  of  locomotion  present  such  extraordinary  combinations. 


22 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


The  ornithic  footprints  are,  as  has  been  remarked,  essentially  tridactylous ;  a 
small  proportion  of  the  waders  only,  exhibit  the  fourth  toe,  which  is  fixed  upon 
the  metatarsal  bone  at  a  point  above  the  plane  of  the  anterior  feet.  It  is 
directed  backward  and  inward  as  in  the  living  tribes,  and  in  some  instances  the 
extremity  only  of  its  nail  touches  the  earth  (PI.  5).  Its  impress  is  rarely  seen 
except  in  those  examples  of  footprints  wherein  the  bird  sank  deeply  in  the  soft 
materials  of  the  stratum,  bringing  it  down  to  the  level  of  the  surface. 

An  identical  system  of  articulation  of  the  toes  is  common  to  all  the  ornithoid 
footprints ;  and  this  system  is  also  identical  with  the  corresponding  organs  of 
living  birds.  The  number  and  arrangement  of  the  digital  phalanges  are  uniformly 
the  same  in  each  type  of  birds,  and  there  is  a  like  agreement  in  the  tarsal 
and  ungual  systems;  and  this  uniform  correspondence  constitutes  the  basis  upon 
which  the  affinities  and  relations  of  the  extinct  animals  can  be  comprehended. 
In  both  extinct  and  living  races  the  inner  toe  is  invariably  shortest,  the  middle 
longest,  while  the  outer  holds  an  intermediate  grade.  There  is  no  exception  to 
this  rule  among  the  fossil  footprints.  In  existing  tridactylous  birds  there  are 
three  phalanges  of  bones  for  the  inner  toe,  four  for  the  middle,  and  five  for  the 
outer ;  but  as  the  terminal  phalanx  belongs  exclusively  to  the  nail,  there  are  in 
the  footprint  two  concave  depressions  for  the  inner  toe,  three  for  the  middle, 
and  four  for  the  outer,  that  correspond  to  the  tuberous  expansions  of  the  respective 
articulations  (PI.  1,  figs.  2  and  3,  and  PI.  2,  figs.  1,  2,  and  3,  impressions  of  living 
birds,  and  PI.  11  and  others,  fossil  impressions).  There  are,  in  addition  to  the 
phalangeal  and  ungual  markings  in  well-defined  examples  of  footprints,  a  group 
of  three  concavities,  situated  posteriorly  to  the  toes  (PL  4,  fig.  1),  that  are 
impressed  by  the  tubercles  of  the  metatarsal  bones  that  support  the  respective 
toes.  There  is  usually  considerable  variation  in  these  features  of  the  footprint ; 
they  are  wanting  altogether  in  the  digitigrade  examples,  and  in  Plate  7  they 
are  blended  so  as  to  destroy  their  outlines.  The  central  tubercle,  or  that  corre¬ 
sponding  to  the  middle  toe,  is  also  modified  by  compression  of  the  first  phalanges 
of  the  respective  toes,  that  embrace  it  (PI.  10),  and  change  its  form.  It  is 
also  unusual  for  the  tubercle  supporting  the  inner  toe  to  be  impressed  at  all 
(PI.  4,  fig.  4),  and  in  some  forms  of  the  strutlioid  examples  the  impress  of  the 
tubercle  supporting  the  outer  toe  is  very  massive  and  preponderating  (Pis.  9, 
11,  and  13).  The  nails  terminating  the  toes  are  broad  at  their  contact  with 
the  last  phalanx,  and  are  stout  and  blunt;  and,  in  some  very  rare  instances,  the 
dermoid  papillous  elevations  are  distinctly  impressed  (PI.  16). 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


23 


In  these  typical  features  of  the  ornithic  footprints,  it  will  be  seen  that  there 
is  an  exact  agreement  with  the  footprints  of  living  tridactylous  birds,  that  appar¬ 
ently  establishes  the  cognate  relations  of  the  extinct  and  living  races.  The 
same  alternation  and  consecutive  series  of  steps  distinguish  the  movements  of 
each  type  of  birds ;  and,  in  all  essential  particulars,  a  mutual  agreement  exists, 
that  appears  to  connect  them  by  indubitable  analogies.  Until  a  recent  period 
no  fact  has  ever  appeared  to  disturb  the  ornithic  theory  of  a  portion  of  the 
footprints ;  but  late  discoveries  disclose  the  singular  fact,  that  other  contempo¬ 
raneous  animals  that  were  quadrupedal  possessed  a  similar  organization  of  the 
posterior  foot  (Pis.  33  and  34).  But,  from  the  accurate  comparison  of  the 
ornithoid  impressions  with  those  of  existing  birds,  it  is  proper  to  consider  them 
to  be  analogous,  although  future  discoveries  may  prove  the  grounds  of  this  belief 
to  be  fallacious. 

The  reptilian  footprints,  that  are  supposed  to  indicate  animals  of  saurian  type, 
are  distinguished  for  inferior  magnitude  and  for  the  disproportion  of  the  anterior 
and  posterior  feet,  the  latter  being  several  times  greater  than  the  former  (Pis. 
23  to  26  inch).  This  characteristic  feature  is  indeed  common  to  all  varieties 
of  quadrupedal  footprints.  As  a  general  rule  each  foot  consists  of  four  toes ; 
but  the  anterior  foot  sometimes  has  five  (PI.  25,  fig.  1).  The  toes  are  com¬ 
paratively  stout,  and  the  feet  massive.  In  some  examples  the  toes  are  in  contact 
(PL  23),  but  they  usually  radiate  from  a  common  centre  (PI.  24).  In  other 
examples,  those  of  the  posterior  feet  are  parallel,  while  those  of  the  anterior  feet 
radiate  (PI.  23).  With  one  exception  (PI.  24,  fig.  2),  each  foot  points  obliquely 
outward ;  and  the  divergence  of  the  anterior  foot  is  sometimes  so  great  as  to 
point  directly  outward  (PI.  23).  As  an  invariable  rule  the  ornithic  footprint  inclines 
inward,  and  the  inclination  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  length  of  stride.  When 
the  step  is  long,  the  convergence  of  the  foot  is  slight ;  but  when  it  is  short, 
the  foot  points  prominently  inward.  The  central  toe,  in  ornithoid  footprints,  points 
with  precision  to  the  succeeding  footprint.  The  convergence  or  divergence  of 
the  footprints,  then,  indicates  the  class  to  which  the  animals  making  them  belonged. 
It  rarely  happens  that  the  phalangeal  divisions  of  the  toes,  in  the  saurian  types, 
can  be  determined,  although  it  is  sometimes  the  case ;  yet  the  symmetrical  pro¬ 
portions  of  their  feet  are  usually  well  preserved.  In  walking,  the  posterior  foot 
falls  upon  the  ground  near  the  place  of  the  anterior  foot,  usually  a  little  distance 
behind  (PI.  24,  fig.  2),  within  and  behind  (PI.  24,  fig.  1),  before  and  without 


24 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


(PI.  25,  fig.  3),  without  (PI.  26,  fig.  1),  and  sometimes  the  impress  of  the  anterior 
foot  is  partially  or  altogether  obliterated  by  that  of  the  posterior  foot,  and  both 
pairs  of  the  feet  tall  in  regular  alternation. 

The  type  of  animals  indicated  by  these  diminutive  footprints  may  be  referred 
with  probability  to  the  saurian  order  of  existing  reptiles,  for  there  is  an  intimate 
analogy  in  the  structural  configuration  of  their  feet.  Plate  21  represents  the 
footprints  of  a  living  alligator,  and  by  comparing  them  with  those  of  Plate  24, 
fig.  1,  the  points  of  resemblance  will  be  seen  to  be  very  intimate.  The  pos¬ 
terior  feet  in  each  Plate  have  the  same  number,  form,  and  radiation  of  the 
toes,  and  the  three  inner  ones  in  both  are  pointed  with  claws ;  and  there  are 
also  like  impressions  of  the  metatarsi.  The  form  and  radiation  of  the  anterior 
feet  are  also  conformable ;  and  upon  these  analogies  a  portion  of  these  quadrupedal 
impressions  will  be  assumed  to  indicate  animals  who  were  the  archetypes  of 
certain  existing  saurian  reptiles. 

The  impressions  upon  Plate  29,  which  are  very  minute,  indicate  a  different 
tribe  of  quadrupedal  animals.  Their  feet  were  widely  separated,  and  the  anterior 
foot  is  planted  considerably  in  advance  of  the  posterior. 

The  origin  of  the  remaining  quadrupedal  footprints  cannot  be  clearly  inferred 
upon  any  known  existing  analogies;  and  the  interest  created  by  an  investigation 
of  them  is  in  proportion  to  their  obscurity  and  anomalous  combinations.  The 
footprints  upon  Plates  31  to.  34  inclusive,  indicate  animals  whose  powers  of  loco¬ 
motion  were  diversified,  and  who  approached  more  nearly  to  the  mammalian  type 
than  any  other  form  of  the  sandstone  footprints.  It  will  be  seen  in  the  analysis 
of  these  remarkable  impressions,  that  the  feet  partake  of  the  characteristics  of 
both  birds  and  reptiles ;  that  is,  the  posterior  foot  conforms  strictly  to  the  ornithic 
impressions,  and  the  anterior  to  the  reptilian.  In  Plates  33  and  34  the  larger 
feet  are,  in  respect  to  the  phalangeal  arrangement,  the  heel  and  nails,  conformable 
to  the  ornithic  impressions ;  while  the  lesser,  or  anterior  footprints,  are  strictly 
upon  the  reptilian  type.  In  this  style  of  quadrupedal  footprints,  the  same  alter¬ 
nation  of  the  feet  occurs  as  in  the  foregoing  saurian  examples :  the  anterior 
and  posterior  feet  fall  upon  the  surface  nearly  together;  and,  if  the  posterior  foot¬ 
print  be  considered  independently  of  its  companion,  it  will  without  hesitation  be 
pronounced  to  be  ornithic  in  its  character  and  indications. 

In  Plates  31  and  32  the  same  type  of  feet  prevails,  but  their  positions  and 
relations  are  materially  different,  as  if  the  creature  had  assumed  the  jumping 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


25 


movement  for  the  walking.  The  smaller,  or  anterior  footprints,  are  arranged  in 
pairs  (PI.  32),  at  the  right  of  the  Plate,  and  are  so  perfectly  defined  as  to  exhibit 
the  phalangeal  divisions  of  the  toe.  The  posterior  or  ornithic  feet  will  readily 
be  recognized;  but  in  addition  to  those  of  the  preceding  examples  (Pis.  33  and 
34),  the  tarsus  is  prolonged  backward,  so  as  to  present  its  entire  and  unblemished 
impress.  The  entire  group  of  impressions  was  produced  by  the  animal  when  in 
a  sitting  posture ;  but,  excepting  distinctions  depending  upon  a  difference  of  species, 
they  appear  to  be  essentially  identical  with  those  of  Plates  33  and  34,  one  set 
being  impressed  in  the  act  of  walking  and  the  other  in  leaping.  The  singular 
resemblance  of  the  posterior  feet  in  these  remarkable  forms  of  the  quadrupedal 
footprints  to  those  of  the  ornithic  varieties,  is  a  circumstance  of  significant  meaning. 
Associated  as  they  are  with  footprints  of  unquestionable  reptilian  type,  the  first 
fact  appears  that  throws  a  doubt  upon  the  subject  of  the  ornithic  origin  of  the 
footprints.  If  it  shall  be  proved  by  future  discoveries  that  the  animals  making 
these  complicated  impressions  possessed  the  additional  power  of  walking  upon 
their  posterior  feet  alone,  the  ornithic  theory  of  the  footprints  would  be  settled 
in  a  summary  manner,  impregnable  as  it  now  seems  to  be. 

Another  modification  of  the  ornithic-reptilian  footprints  appears  upon  Plate  35. 
It  might  appear,  by  the  wide  separation  of  the  right  and  left  sets  of  feet,  and 
from  the  dragging  of  the  toes  in  all  the  feet  from  step  to  step,  that  the  animal 
was  created  upon  some  testudinal  type,  but  the  character  of  the  posterior  foot 
forbids  this  inference ;  and,  moreover,  there  is  no  evidence  that  tortoises  existed 
during  the  deposition  of  the  sandstone  formation,  although  a  different  opinion 
has  been  formerly  held. 

The  footprints  upon  Plates  30,  37,  38,  and  39  are  those  of  bipedal  reptiles, 
and  their  origin  is  involved  in  profound  obscurity ;  those  upon  Plate  30  are 
remarkable  for  the  form  of  the  feet,  and  for  being  associated  with  the  impression 
of  a  dragging  tail;  those  upon  Plates  38  and  39  are  distinguished  for  their 
diminutive  size,  while  that  upon  Plate  37  is  distinguished  for  its  enormous  magni¬ 
tude.  It  is  the  largest,  the  most  massive  and  solid,  footprint  ever  discovered, 
the  original  being  seventeen  inches  in  length  and  eleven  in  breadth.  These 
stupendous  but  graphic  impressions  cannot  be  contemplated  without  astonishment ; 
but  it  is  vain  to  assign  the  creature  who  made  them  a  place  in  the  scale  of 
animal  organization. 

It  will  now  be  understood,  that  the  footprints  indicate  by  their  analogies  ani- 

4 


26 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


mals  whose  prototypes  are  to  be  found  in  the  existing  classes  of  Birds  and 
Reptiles.  Impressions  of  Fishes  also  occur  abundantly  at  Turner’s  Falls,  in  beds 
alternating  with  the  footprints.  While,  therefore,  the  shores  of  the  ancient  sand¬ 
stone  basin  were  thronged  with  air-breathing,  warm-blooded  animals,  its  waters 
teemed  with  fishes  and  amphibious  creatures. 

Next,  and  lastly,  in  this  interesting  drama  of  life  we  have  the  class  Insecta; 
and  of  all  the  fossils  in  the  sandstone  strata  there  are  none  that  excite  admiration 
and  wonder  so  much  as  these  delicate  vestiges  of  insects.  Their  impress  is 
unblemished.  The  gigantic  footprints  confound  the  imagination  by  their  immen¬ 
sity  ;  but  these  inimitable  inscriptions  interest  us  by  their  surprising  delicacy  and 
beauty  (Plates  40,  41,  and  42). 

Associated  with  these  attenuated  footprints  are  the  trailing  impressions  of 
larvae,  which  are  abundant  in  most  localities.  There  are  also  other  markings 
upon  the  sandstone  strata  resulting  from  organization,  the  meaning  of  which  is 
incomprehensible.  The  fossils  delineated  upon  Plates  43  and  44  are  of  this 
description.  It  will  require  long  years  of  patient  investigation  to  solve  the  mys¬ 
teries  that  are  written  in  the  sandstone  language.  Even  the  falling  rain  has 
registered  its  duration  and  intensity  upon  the  impressible  strata. 

It  is  unfortunate,  for  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  obscure  origin  of  the  foot¬ 
prints,  that  the  osseous  systems  of  the  animals  making  them  cannot  be  recognized. 
Bones  have  been  occasionally  found ;  but  in  a  condition  so  imperfect  as  to  exclude 
legitimate  conclusions.  They  are,  however,  uniformly  hollow,  and  are  filled  with 
the  same  material  as  the  rock  in  which  they  occur.  That  the  skeleton  should 
be  associated  with  footprints,  it  is  indispensable  that  the  animals  should  perish 
upon  the  marginal  grounds  of  the  sandstone  basin,  which  were  periodically  sub¬ 
merged,  and  that  their  bodies  should  be  immediately  buried  by  an  overspread 
of  the  materials  of  the  succeeding  stratum.  But  the  cylindrical,  permeable  bones 
of  birds  would  cause  the  carcass  to  be  lifted  and  floated  away  by  the  retreating 
waters,  and  hence  it  would  be  deposited  in  places  remote  from  the  stratified 
division  of  the  rock.  The  discovery  of  the  skeleton,  therefore,  cannot  be  confi¬ 
dently  expected  in  the  fossil-bearing  strata. 

Footprints  in  situ.  —  When  the  footprints  are  contemplated  in  their  original 
situation,  their  importance,  as  indicative  of  events  that  transpired  in  a  remote 
geological  era,  is  strikingly  manifest.  The  sandstone  strata  have  been  elevated 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


27 


since  their  deposition,  and  their  original  level  positions  transformed  into  various 
angles  of  elevation.  The  fossil-bearing  strata  present  smooth,  lustrous  surfaces, — 
a  condition  that  results  from  the  precipitation  upon  the  coarser  materials  of  the 
strata  of  such  fine  argillaceous  particles  as  were  held  in  suspension  by  the  agitated 
waters ;  and  upon  this  polished  film,  when  exposed  by  the  retreating  flood,  the 
animals  impressed  their  footsteps  as  upon  wax.  The  plastic  and  retentive  proper¬ 
ties  of  this  sedimentary  deposit  were  very  remarkable,  the  minutest  details  of 
organization  being  engraved  upon  it  sharp  as  the  impress  of  a  die. 

When  several  contiguous  strata  are  impressed  with  footprints,  each  succeeding 
stratum  bears  upon  its  inferior  surface  an  exact  copy  of  the  stratum  beneath ; 
and  hence  it  happens  that  certain  strata  bear  intagliated  impressions  upon  their 
superior,  and  relievo  casts  upon  their  inferior,  surfaces.  When  a  new  layer  over¬ 
spreads  a  preceding  deposit,  an  interval  of  quiet  and  sunshine  succeeded ;  by 
parting  with  its  water  its  surface  became  consolidated,  and  in  this  condition  the 
animals  imparted  to  it  the  impress  of  their  feet,  which  has  been  preserved 
unchanged  by  the  succeeding  overflow  of  plastic  mud,  and  thus  the  process  con¬ 
tinued  indefinitely,  each  stratum  not  only  taking  the  form  of  its  predecessor,  but 
preserving  its  records  from  destruction. 

The  original  deposition  of  the  sandstone  beds  covered  an  area  of  considerable 
length,  but  of  limited  breadth.  Its  present  northern  terminus  is  at  a  cataract 
in  the  Connecticut  River  known  as  Miller’s  Falls,  near  the  northern  boundary 
of  Massachusetts,  and,  stretching  to  the  south,  it  intersects  this  State  and  also 
that  of  Connecticut,  The  Connecticut  River  proceeds,  in  its  southern  course, 
directly  over  the  sandstone  beds,  as  far  as  Middletown,  in  tlie  latter  State,  and 
is  thence  diverted  to  the  east,  over  beds  of  metamorphic  rocks,  the  sandstone 
continuing  in  its  straight  course,  and  terminating  at  the  Long  Island  Sound,  at 
New  Haven.  Footprints  usually  occur  wherever  the  stratified  division  of  the 
rock  is  extensively  quarried,  as  at  Middletown  and  Weathersfield  in  Connecticut; 
and  at  Chicopee,  South  Hadley  Falls,  and  Turner’s  Falls,  and  at  other  localities 
in  Massachusetts.  The  localities  are  numerous,  and  are  distributed  over  an  extent 
of  more  than  one  hundred  miles.  The  facilities  for  investigation  are  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  elevation  of  the  original  beds ;  but  footprints  do  not  occur  in  all 
situations  in  the  same  degree  of  perfection.  At  the  cataracts  of  Turner’s  Falls 
they  are  not  only  most  abundant,  but  of  extraordinary  excellence.  Their  superi¬ 
ority  perfectly  adapts  them  to  the  purposes  of  illustration,  and  the  originals  of 


28 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


the  Plates  have  been  selected  from  this  prolific  field.  The  region  of  Turner’s 
Falls,  constituting  the  northern  limit  of  the  sandstone  beds,  appears  to  have  been 
a  common  rendezvous  of  these  ancient  animals;  while  the  retentive  properties  of 
the  strata  were  singularly  favorable  to  the  preservation  of  their  footprints.  So 
numerous  were  the  creatures  that  resorted  to  this  attractive  region,  that  the 
strata  are  often  literally  covered  with  their  footsteps.  When,  however,  they  are 
thus  associated  in  numbers,  it  is  manifest  that  they  were  not  all  simultaneously 
impressed.  Some  of  them  are  deep  and  imperfect;  others  are  superficial;  and 
when  the  materials  of  the  strata  became,  by  exposure,  too  dense  to  receive 
articular  forms,  all  that  resulted  from  the  transits  of  the  birds  is  the  indentation 
of  their  blunt  claws. 

The  stratified  beds  of  sandstone  were  evidently  deposited  upon  the  rim  or 
marginal  limits  of  the  ancient  basin  or  receptacle  of  water,  the  materials  being 
transported  to  the  place  of  deposition  by  the  agency  of  powerful  floods  or  streams. 
The  strata  were  of  course  deposited  in  a  slightly  inclined  position,  and  by  per¬ 
petual  succession  acquired  a  depth  of  many  thousand  feet,  and  throughout,  foot¬ 
prints  occur  at  irregular  intervals,  even  at  the  bottom  of  the  sands.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  sandstone  deposition  the  animals  whose  remarkable  history 
it  commemorates  were  already  in  existence,  and  they  flourished,  without  inter¬ 
mission,  to  its  completion. 

It  is  usual  to  find  several  contiguous  fossil-bearing  strata  that  are  separated 
by  wide  intervals  of  a  coarser  description  of  material  and  stratification,  that 
contain  no  evidences  of  organic  life.  The  proportion  of  the  latter  to  the  former 
is  very  insignificant;  and  hence  the  detection  of  the  footprints  is  uncertain,  and 
depends  as  much  upon  chance  as  upon  exploring  discernment.  Their  search, 
however,  is  much  facilitated  by  negative  considerations :  it  is  not  difficult  to 
determine  the  lithological  conditions  under  which  they  do  not  occur.  When 
the  rock  is  coarse  or  granular  or  conglomerated,  and  is  destitute  of  that  delicate 
glazed  deposit  that  results  from  earthy  precipitation,  it  is  in  vain  to  search 
for  footprints;  but  when  the  stratification  approaches  the  condition  of  shales,  and 
their  surfaces  are  smooth  and  bright,  it  may  be  inferred  that  footprints  exist. 
The  fossil  strata  are  comparatively  thin,  being  at  most  a  few  inches  only  in 
thickness. 

The  elevation  of  the  sandstone  beds  has  been  accomplished  by  an  irruption  of 
basaltic  rock  in  a  melted  condition ;  and  in  many  places  at  the  outbreak  of  the 


N 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE.  29 

igneous  rock,  the  sedimentary  beds  are  thrown  up  into  hills  of  considerable  ele¬ 
vation.  In  some  instances  the  elevation  has  been  effected  without  material  change 
of  the  natural  inclination  of  the  strata.  The  irruption  of  the  basaltic  rock  is 
coextensive  with  the  sedimentary  formation,  commencing  with  it  at  its  northern 
terminus,  and  accompanying  it  throughout  in  low,  bleak  ridges,  throwing  up,  in 
eastern  or  upper  aspect,  the  fossil-bearing  strata. 

Causes  that  have  prevented  the  perfect  Preservation  of  the  Footprints.  —  Several  circum¬ 
stances  have  interfered  to  prevent  the  preservation  of  the  footprints,  the  most 
prominent  being  that  which  depends  upon  the  variable  density  of  the  stratum 
at  the  time  of  the  animal’s  passage  over  it.  If  the  foot  was  planted  upon  the 
stratum  while  yet  too  soft  to  retain  its  form,  the  impress  was  of  necessity  obliter¬ 
ated,  or  modified  by  subsequent  changes  of  the  semifluid  mud ;  and  hence  the 
distinctive  marks  of  organization  disappear,  each  toe  being  simply  represented  by 
a  linear  depression,  that  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  the  impress  of  a  slender 
toe  (PI.  20).  All  tridactylous  footprints,  or  those  ascribed  to  birds,  that  do  not 
exhibit  the  phalangeal  divisions  of  the  toes,  have  been  modified  by  disturbing 
causes.  It  was  not  until  my  attention  was  directed  to  the  localities  at  Turner’s 
Falls  in  1842,  that  examples  of  footprints  were  procured  that  presented  the 
phalangeal  outlines  of  the  toes.  The  perfection  of  these  footprints  proves  une¬ 
quivocally  that  the  feet  of  the  animals  making  them  were  distinguished  relatively 
by  massive  toes,  a  stout  nail,  and  broad  heel.  This  is  the  invariable  character 
of  those  impressions  that  preserve  structural  markings ;  and  such  as  do  not  are 
not  reliable.  I  have  sometimes  seen  footprints  in  which  the  divisional  lines  of 
the  middle  toe  Avere  visible  Avhile  those  of  the  lateral  toes  \\rere  not,  the  flowing 
of  the  plastic  mud  not  being  sufficient  to  obliterate  entirely  the  forms  of  the 
articulations. 

In  the  imperfect  impressions  represented  by  Plate  20,  the  linear  impress  of 
the  toes  is  often  repeated  upon  several  contiguous  strata,  —  a  phenomenon  that 
is  explained  upon  the  supposition  that  the  bird,  traversing  the  unconsolidated 
strata,  penetrated  with  its  foot  several  layers,  and  upon  withdrawing  it,  left  in 
each,  rude  representations  of  the  respective  toes.  These  layers,  that  are  always 
thin,  often  multiply  as  many  as  five  or  six  linear  representations  of  the  same 
foot.  Sometimes  there  is  in  the  upper  layers  a  prolonged  depression,  running 
backward  from  the  heel  and  joined  to  it,  that  is  due  to  the  leg  sinking  with 


30 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


the  foot,  its  inclined  position  causing  a  projected  impression  from  the  heel,  corre¬ 
sponding  in  length  to  the  depth  to  which  the  foot  itself  penetrated.  The  fourth 
toe  sometimes  leaves  its  impress  standing  out  transversely  from  that  produced 
by  the  sinking  leg.  Such  multiplied  impressions,  although  they  illustrate  the 
history  of  the  footprints,  do  not  convey  accurate  ideas  of  structural  forms,  and 
their  imperfection  excludes  their  specific  arrangement. 

The  perfect  footprints,  then,  were  impressed  when  the  consistence  of  the  stratum 
was  such  that  it  prevented  the  sinking  of  the  foot,  yet  yielded  sufficiently  to 
take  its  accurate  form ;  and  some  of  the  finest  examples  therefore  are  those  in 
which  the  impress  is  superficial  (PI.  11).  Sometimes  the  resistance  opposed  to 
the  weight  of  the  animal  produced  a  flattened  impress  (PI.  10,  fig.  1).  When 
the  drying  process  had  not  reached  that  point,  the  articular  impress  is  concave 
and  tuberous  (PL  10,  fig.  2),  and  in  proportion  as  the  stratum  was  softer  the 
impress  becomes  more  imperfect,  until  it  can  barely  be  detected,  or  it  results 
in  mere  fissured  lines  that  represent  the  toes. 

Another  form  of  imperfect  footprints  occasionally  happens.  If  a  slight  earthy 
deposit  falls  upon  and  adheres  to  a  surface  having  a  footprint,  the  general  aspect 
of  this  footprint  will  be  preserved  by  the  adventitious  layer,  but  there  will  be 
an  entire  absence  of  the  finer  markings  of  the  foot.  If  such  deposits  acquire 
considerable  thickness,  all  signs  of  the  original  impress  disappear,  and  the  result 
is  a  stratum  with  a  relief  cast  upon  its  inferior  surface.  If  also  the  layer  upon 

which  the  bird  trod  be  very  thin,  the  impress  of  its  foot  may  be  transmitted 

to  the  layer  beneath ;  but  the  impression  thus  resulting  will  not  be  accurate. 
It  is  the  stratum  upon  which  the  bird  steps,  and  that  only,  that  reflects  the 
true  features  of  the  foot :  the  impress  presents  a  smooth,  compressed  surface, 
a  clear  and  unequivocal  expression,  and  sharp  and  well  defined  ridges,  that  sepa¬ 
rate  both  the  toes  and  articulation.  The  perfection  of  the  footprint  is  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  smoothness,  fineness,  stability,  and  plastic  property  of  the  stratum, 
and  when  these  conditions  concur  the  impress  is  absolutely  perfect,  whether  of 
the  feet  of  colossal  birds  or  of  insects ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  footprints  impressed 
upon  soft  mud  or  beneath  water  will  be  so  modified  as  simply  to  be  distinguished 

by  linear  depressions  that  represent  the  several  toes. 

If  the  direction  in  which  the  animal  moved  be  parallel  to  the  margin  of  the 
water  line,  there  is  no  essential  difference  in  the  character  and  perfection  of  the 
consecutive  footprints ;  but  if  the  direction  be  transversely,  or  into  or  from  the 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


31 


water,  there  is  a  remarkable  difference  to  be  observed  among  the  successive 
impressions,  resulting  from  variable  density  of  the  stratum  upon  which  the  animals 
walked.  I  have  observed  instances  where  the  first  of  a  line  of  footprints  was 
flattened.  After  a  step  or  two  the  impressions  were  tuberous;  and,  pursuing  the 
line  farther,  they  became  imperfect,  and  finally  disappeared  altogether.  When 
extensive  surfaces  are  exposed  in  situ,  these  modifications  are  always  apparent; 
and  it  frequently  happens  that  the  best  and  worst  specimens  of  footprints  occur 
together  upon  the  same  surface. 

Probable  sources  of  the  Waters  of  the  Sandstone  Basin.  —  It  is  an  interesting  subject 
of  inquiry,  to  determine  whether  the  waters  of  the  ancient  sandstone  basin  were 
derived  from  marine,  lacustrine,  or  fluviatile  sources.  The  topography  of  the  valley 
of  the  Connecticut  River  that  corresponds  to  the  area  of  the  sandstone  deposition 
suggests  the  hypothesis  of  an  estuary  or  inland  sea,  connecting  with  a  distant 
ocean ;  but,  however  that  might  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  level  of  the  waters 
was  not  stationary,  but  was  subject  to  considerable  fluctuations.  It  is  unsatis¬ 
factory  to  ascribe  this  disturbance  to  tidal  influence  alone ;  for  under  ordinary 
circumstances  it  is  impossible  that  the  stratum  should  be  sufficiently  consolidated 
in  the  interval  between  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  tides  to  retain  impressions, 
and,  moreover,  as  has  been  stated,  the  stratum  often  bears  unequivocal  evidence 
of  being  impressed  at  distinct  and  distant  intervals  of  time,  while  it  was  acquiring 
an  increasing  degree  of  solidity.  This  fact  cannot  be  disposed  of  upon  the  suppo¬ 
sition  of  tidal  agency;  it  is  manifest  that  the  periods  of  fluctuation  were  much 
longer  than  those  occurring  between  the  falling  and  rising  of  tides.  There  is 
abundant  evidence  that  copious  rains  watered  the  earth  during  the  sandstone  era  ; 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  atmosphere  was  more  highly  charged  with 
moisture  than  in  the  present  day.  The  materials  of  the  sandstone  rock  are 
composed  exclusively  of  the  detritus  of  antecedent  rocks,  which  were  broken, 
rounded,  or  pulverized  by  some  mysterious  agency,  that  could  only  be  moved 
to  the  place  of  their  receptacle  by  the  force  of  powerful  currents.  The  coarser 
parts  were  lodged  in  the  remote  depths,  and  constituted  the  unstratified  masses 
of  the  sandstone  rock,  while  the  finer  parts  were  deposited  upon  this  basis  in 
regular  stratification.  Hence  the  presumption  is  at  least  plausible,  that  the 
accumulated  waters  of  the  sandstone  basin  constituted  a  narrow  estuarj-  or  inland 
sea,  having  its  upper  or  northern  limit  at  the  place  now  known  as  Turner’s 


32 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


Falls;  and,  receiving  the  turbulent  floods  of  the  adjacent  regions,  its  ordinary 
level  was  thereby  disturbed,  while  at  the  same  time  it  received  fresh  depositions 
of  pebbles,  sand,  and  mud,  which,  upon  the  subsidence  of  the  agitated  waters, 
were  in  turn  subjected  to  the  action  of  solar  heat,  and  became  the  common  ren¬ 
dezvous  of  multitudes  of  birds  and  reptiles. 

Classification  of  the  Footprints.  —  There  are  numerous  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
satisfactory  classification  of  the  footprints,  owing  partly  to  the  unstable  condition 
of  the  rock  at  the  period  of  the  animal’s  passage  over  it,  and  partly  to  the 
presumed  fact  that  footprints  of  dissimilar  magnitude  were  impressed  by  identical 
species  during  the  progressive  stages  of  their  growth,  and  also  to  the  circum¬ 
stance  that  many  of  them  present  no  analogies  to  the  feet  of  living  animals. 

As  regards  the  first  of  these  conditions,  there  are  numerous  modifications  of 
the  footprints,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  that  result  from  the  unequal  resist¬ 
ance  offered  by  the  strata  when  in  a  wet  condition,  or  when  not  sufficiently 
consolidated  to  retain  the  form  of  the  foot.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the 
footprints  have,  for  this  reason,  undergone  changes  that  have  destroyed  their 
symmetry  and  structural  markings.  The  modified  forms  under  which  the  foot¬ 
prints  occur  are  innumerable ;  and  the  attempt  to  reduce  such  of  them  as  do 
not  present  the  unequivocal  impress  of  the  foot  to  specific  arrangement  would 
be  impracticable  and  useless.  When,  however,  it  may  be  briefly  repeated,  the 
stratum  was  sufficiently  consolidated  to  resist  the  penetration  of  the  foot,  yet 
yielded  slightly  to  its  pressure,  a  well  defined  impress  resulted,  that  distinctly 
retained  the  rounded  forms  of  the  digital  articulations,  and  such  only  can  be 
subjected  to  systematic  analysis.  In  well  defined  examples  of  footprints,  their 
differences  and  their  individuality  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  recognized ;  and 
these  distinctions  offer  the  only  ground  of  classification. 

A  general  resemblance  of  the  footprints  not  differing  essentially  except  in 
magnitude,  offers  a  perplexing  obstacle  to  classification.  This  prominent  feature 

of  the  footprints  can  only  be  explained  upon  the  presumption  that  the  various 

impressions  were  due  to  kindred  species.  This  is  illustrated  by  Plate  2,  the 

figures  of  which  are  the  footprints  of  the  common  hen  and  chickens.  If  the 

same  disproportion  were  found  to  characterize  the  fossil  footprints,  it  might  be 
extremely  difficult  to  say  whether  they  were  specifically  distinct,  or  were  due 
to  the  same  species. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLATES. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLATES. 


Plates  No’s  1  and  2  are  footprints  of  existing  living  animals,  for  comparison. 


PLATE  I. 

Fig.  1,  Tracks  of  a  Frog. 

Figs.  2  and  3,  Tracks  of  recent  small  Birds. 


PLATE  II- 

Fig.  1,  Track  of  a  Hen. 

Figs.  2  and  3,  Tracks  of  Chickens. 


PLATE  III. 

Fig.  1  was  described  by  Dr.  Deane  in  a  Communication  to  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  1849,  as  follows : 

This  is  the  smallest  example  of  ornithic  footprints  known.  It  is  a  left  foot, 
and  displays  the  marks  of  peculiar  organization  tolerably  well.  The  toes  are 
massive ;  the  inner  one  showing  two  lobes  distinctly,  and  the  middle  and  outer 
ones  their  respective  number,  but  indistinctly ;  the  nails  are  also  slightly  impressed. 
The  impression  of  the  tarsus,  or  distal  extremity  of  the  tarso-metatarsal  bone,  is 
perceptible,  and,  altogether,  it  is  the  best  example  of  this  most  diminutive  species 
I  have  seen.  The  step  is  four  inches.  This  species  is  rare,  and  has  been  found 
only  at  Turner’s  Falls. 

Fig.  2  was  also  described  by  Dr.  Deane  in  his  communication  above  referred  to, 
as  follows : 


36 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


This  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  left  and  right  foot  of  a  bird,  probably 
no  larger  than  the  preceding;  but  the  impression  differs  in  this  respect,  that 
the  toes  are  more  numerous  and  less  massive.  The  phalangeal  ranks  are  not 
very  distinct  ;  but  the  general  features  of  the  track  are  very  striking.  Specimens 
are  rare ;  I  have  only  seen  them  at  a  place  called  the  Race,  at  the  uppermost 
locality  of  fossil  footprints,  four  miles  above  Turner’s  Falls.  This  example  of 
footprints  is  strictly  analogous  to  those  of  several  families  of  the  existing  order 
Passerineae. 

Fig.  3.  Of  this  no  description  has  been  given  by  Dr.  Deane.  The  impressions  do 
not,  however,  differ  essentially  from  that  of  figure  1,  and  may  have  been  made  by  an 
individual  of  the  same  species,  though  the  footprints  are  slightly  larger  and  the  step  con¬ 
siderably  longer. 


PLATE  IV. 

Dr.  Deane  has  left  no  account  of  these  impressions.  Figs.  2  and  4  represent,  undoubt¬ 
edly,  footprints  of  the  species  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  the  Grallator  gracillimus, 
and  Fig.  3,  that  of  the  Grallator  tenuis,  in  his  great  work  on  the  Ichnology  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts.  Fine  specimens  of  the  tracks  of  these  species  may  be  seen  in  the  magnificent 
collection  at  Amherst,  from  some  of  which  the  figures  here  given  were  probably  drawn. 

The  G.  gracillimus  had  a  step  or  stride  of  about  eight  inches,  and  the  width  of 
trackway  made  in  walking  was  about  three  and  one  half  inches.  The  step  of  the  G. 
tenuis  was  about  nine  inches,  and  width  of  trackway  made,  two  and  one  half  inches. 


PLATE  V. 

This  plate  was  not  described  by  Dr.  Deane,  though  he  refers  to  it,  in  some  general 
remarks  upon  the  footprints,  as  exhibiting  the  impress  made  by  the  extremity  of  the  nail 
of  the  fourth  toe  of  the  bird. 

The  stone  from  which  this  plate  was  drawn  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Roswell 
Field,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  who  is  doing  much  towards  the  elucidation  of  the  character  of 
the  animals  that  made  the  footprints,  by  his  indefatigable  perseverance  in  working  out 
specimens  from  the  localities  in  his  neighborhood,  near  Turner’s  Falls,  and  by  his  accurate 
observations  upon  them. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  give  upon  paper  a  finer  representation  of  any  object  in 
nature  than  is  afforded,  by  this  plate,  of  the  original  stone.  The  drawing  could  not  be 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


37 


better.  The  impress  of  the  claw  of  the  fourth,  or  hind  toe,  is  very  perceptible  in  both 
the  right  and  left  footprint,  though  the  toe  itself  left  no  mark. 

This  species,  here  arranged  by  Dr.  Deane  as  of  Ornithic  character,  was  probably  one 
of  a  group  of  animals  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  Ornithoid  Reptiles,  the  impressions 
being  those  only  of  the  hind  feet.  Some  reference  to  this  and  other  like  cases  will  be 
found  in  the  remarks  that  follow  the  descriptions  here  given. 


PLATE  VI. 

Fig.  1.  This  is  not  described  by  Dr.  Deane.  The  stone  from  which  the  drawing 
was  made  is  in  the  collection  at  Amherst.  The  impressions  are  similar  in  character  to 
those  made  by  the  hind  feet  of  the  Apatichnus  circumagens  of  Dr.  Hitchcock, 
and  may  have  been  made  by  an  animal  of  that  species.  See  remarks  that  follow  these 
descriptions. 

Fig.  2.  These  impressions  were  described  by  Dr.  Deane  in  his  communication  on 
Fossil  Footprints,  published  in  the  4th  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy, 
New  Series.  He  there  says : 

This  is  a  beautiful  example  of  footprints,  perfectly  developed  in  all  respects. 
The  order  of  articulations,  and  the  imprint  of  the  tarsus  and  nails  are  clear 
and  unequivocal.  This  variety  is  common  at  Turner’s  Falls.  The  distinctive 
features  of  this  species  consist  in  the  strongly  marked  and  tapering  toes,  long 
and  blunt  nails,  the  divergence  of  the  lateral  toes,  and  the  broad  space  which 
separates  them  from  the  central  one  of  the  tarsus,  which  is  separated  from  the 
toes,  and  is  placed  further  back  than  usual. 

PLATE  VII. 

The  impressions  of  this  Plate  are  nowhere  particularly  described  by  Dr.  Deane. 
Under  the  classification  of  the  Ichnology  of  Massachusetts,  they  must  be  placed  among 
the  many  varieties  of  form  presented  in  the  footprints  of  the  species  called  by  Dr. 
Hitchcock  the  Brontozoum  Sillimanium.  The  step  of  this  species  varied  in  length 
from  twelve  to  twenty  inches.  Width  of  trackway,  about  four  and  one  half  inches. 


38 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


PLATE  VIII. 

Figs.  1  and  2.  The  same  as  described  by  Dr.  Deane,  and  published  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  American  Academy,  vol.  4,  New  Series.  He  there  says : 

These  represent  a  magnificent  species  of  footprint,  which  I  have  selected 
to  illustrate  the  probability  that  certain  analogous  impressions,  differing  in  magni¬ 
tude,  are  due  to  an  identical  species,  being  impressed  by  individuals  in  various 
stages  of  development.  The  distinctive  marks  of  organization  are  very  striking. 
The  foot  is  long,  narrow,  and  distinctly  impressed.  A  peculiar  mark  of  distinction 
in  this  species  is  the  shortness  of  the  outer  toe,  projecting  backward  and  forward 
little  more  than  the  inner  toe.  Another  remarkable  distinction  is  the  circum¬ 
stance  that  the  lateral  toes  embrace  and  modify  the  form  of  the  first  joint  of 
the  central  toe.  The  latter  toes  diverge  less  than  in  other  species.  The  tarsus 
is  invariably  impressed,  and  its  lobes  and  those  of  the  respective  joints  are 
exceedingly  massive.  The  nails  are  perfectly  defined.  Those  terminating  the 
lateral  toes  have  an  unusual  divergence.  The  step  is  very  long,  in  the  figures 
being  about  two  feet.  The  bird  was,  doubtless,  of  great  relative  magnitude,  for 
the  impress  is  always  perfect,  a  circumstance  resulting  from  condensation  by  great 
pressure.  These  large  and  powerful  birds  appear  to  have  outlived  other  species, 
for,  while  those  became  extinct,  or  at  least  disappear,  these  are  found  under  all 
circumstances.  They  abound  at  Turner’s  Falls  where  the  strata  rest  upon  igne¬ 
ous  rock,  and  also  at  the  Race,  several  miles  distant,  and  at  intermediate  places. 

This  description  should  be  read  having  in  mind  the  fact  that  Dr.  Deane,  when  he 
wrote  it,  considered  many  of  the  forms  presented  in  the  next  succeeding  eleven  plates,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  one  under  notice,  as  impressions  of  one  species,  in  various  stages 
of  growth.  That  his  views  in  this  respect  were  somewhat  modified  by  subsequent  obser¬ 
vation,  may  be  judged  from  the  descriptions  since  given  by  him  of  Plates  13  and  15, 
which  follow.  It  is  due  to  Dr.  Deane  to  state  that  he  did  not  at  any  time  regard  the 
size  alone  of  an  imprint  as  generally  of  much  value  in  determining  specific  character. 

The  variety  of  form  presented  by  this  plate  has  been  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  as 
the  footprint  of  the  Grail  at  or  cuneatus.  This  species  had  a  step  of  from  twenty -two  to 
twenty-four  inches.  Width  of  trackway,  three  and  one  half  inches. 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


39 


PLATES  IX.  AND  X. 

These,  like  the  forms  presented  on  Plate  7,  are  all  impressions  of  the  Brontozoum 
Sillimanium  of  Hitchcock. 

Fine  specimens  of  the  footprints  of  this  species,  and  well  defined,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  collections  of  Amherst  College,  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  and  of  Roswell 
Field,  near  Turner’s  Falls. 


PLATE  XI. 

This  presents  a  beautiful  example  of  the  form  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  under  the 
name  of  Grail  at  or  formosus. 

The  step  of  this  species  was  twenty-seven  inches,  width  of  trackway  six  inches. 


PLATE  XII. 

The  original  of  this  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History. 
This  variety  is  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  under  the  name  of  Brontozoum  validum. 
Length  of  step  thirty-three  inches,  width  of  trackway  six  inches. 


PLATE  XIII. 

The  footprint  upon  this  plate  is  distinguished  for  its  massive  proportions.  Its 
impress  is  clearly  defined,  and  presents  the  outlines  and  structural  markings  with 
great  distinctness.  It  is  the  left  foot  of  a  tridactylous  bird,  each  toe  exhibiting 
the  characteristic  number  of  articulations.  Its  prominent  feature  consists  in  the 
contact  of  the  toes  and  of  the  heel,  these  members  being  compactly  united,  but 
without  obliterating  dividing  lines.  The  first  phalanx  of  the  short  or  inner  toe 
is  joined,  partly  to  the  impress  of  the  middle  tubercle  of  the  tarsal  bone,  and 
partly  to  the  first  phalanx  of  the  central  toe.  The  second  phalanx  of  this  toe 
is  joined  to  the  first  and  second  phalanges  of  the  middle  toe.  The  first  phalanx 
of  the  outer  or  long  toe  is  bounded  behind  by  the  tubercle  of  the  tarsal  bone 
that  supports  it ;  within,  by  that  supporting  the  central  toe ;  and  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  phalanges  embrace  the  first  and  second  ranks  of  the  central 
toe.  This  toe  is  relatively  short,  and  is  much  compressed ;  the  two  last  pha- 


40 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


langes  usually  being  so  much  blended  as  to  appear  to  be  one,  and  its  close 
contact  to  the  middle  toe  imparts  to  it  a  curvilinear  form.  The  first  and  second 
phalanges  of  the  middle  toe  are  much  modified  in  form  by  the  pressure  of  the 
lateral  toes.  It  is  relatively  long,  massive,  and  fleshy.  The  tubercle  supporting 
the  long  or  outer  toe  is  large  and  circular,  except  at  its  junction  with  the  first 
phalanx  of  this  toe ;  that  supporting  the  central  toe  is  so  modified  in  form  by 
the  compression  of  the  first  phalanges  of  the  respective  toes,  as  to  assume  a 
rectangular  form,  and  that  supporting  the  inner  toe  does  not  distinctly  appear, 
as  is  usually  the  case.  The  claws  are  well  marked,  broad  at  their  origin,  and 
blunt  at  their  termination.  They  are  not,  relatively,  long,  and  such  is  the  rule 
in  all  the  footprints ;  they  are  remarkable  for  breadth  and  strength. 

The  compactness  of  this  footprint  seems  to  indicate  that  the  toes  and  heel 
were  confined  in  contact  by  some  membranous  union.  The  impress  of  that  portion 
of  the  central  toe  not  joined  to  the  lateral  toes  is  free,  and  preserves  the  natural 
outlines  of  the  articulations.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  lines  of  contact  between 
the  heel  and  first  phalanx  of  the  long  toe  are  rectilinear,  as  is  also  the  junction 
of  this  toe  with  the  middle  one.  All  the  features  of  this  fine  footprint  bear 
the  marks  of  great  pressure,  the  oval  curves  of  the  articulations  being  overcome 
by  it  and  reduced  to  straight  lines.  The  impress  is  not  deep,  yet,  by  the  great 
weight  of  the  animal,  it  is  sharply  set  into  the  stratum  when  it  was  evidently 
in  a  stiffened  condition. 

This  variety  of  footprint  occurs  more  abundantly  than  any  other,  and  the 
creature  by  which  it  was  impressed  appears  to  have  flourished  throughout  the 
entire  period  of  the  sandstone  deposition,  for  its  footsteps  are  widely  distributed 
throughout  the  strata.  This  rule  applies  to  all  the  gigantic  ornithoid  footprints. 
They  are  found  at  Turner’s  Falls  at  the  bottom  of  the  stratified  series,  and  thence 
upward  through  a  thickness  of  many  thousand  feet.  Wherever  the  stratified 
rock  is  extensively  quarried  they  are  sure  to  be  seen,  sometimes  in  groups,  or 
associated  with  the  footprints  of  other  species.  I  have  seen  examples  of  the 
strata  that  were  impressed  with  as  many  as  seventy-five  distinct  footprints,  showing 
series  from  different  individuals,  some  larger  and  others  smaller  than  in  the  plate. 

The  stride  of  this  powerful  bird,  if  such  it  be,  is  about  three  feet,  and  its 
body  was  consequently  elevated  upon  long  legs,  as  in  existing  struthious  birds. 
The  type  of  the  extinct  birds  may  be  assumed  to  be  analogous  to  some  existing 
brevipennate  tribes.  It  is  of  course  impossible  to  fix  the  comparison  with  satis- 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


41 


factory  accuracy,  and  all  that  can  be  said  is,  that  in  point  of  magnitude,  massive 
proportions  of  the  feet,  and  long  stride,  there  are  strong  analogies  to  confirm 
this  belief;  and  it  presumptively  follows,  that  in  the  habits  and  instincts  of  the 
extinct  and  living  races,  corresponding  affinities  should  also  exist. 

To  the  above  description  of  Dr.  Deane  it  may  be  added,  that  he  first  described  and 
figured  the  specimen  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
Vol.  4,  New  Series. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  describes  this  species  under  the  name  of  Brontozoum  exsertum,  in 
the  Ichnology  of  Massachusetts. 

Length  of  step  thirty  inches,  width  of  trackway  six  inches. 


PLATE  XIV. 

No  description  given  by  Dr.  Deane. 

This  has  generally  been  regarded  as  of  the  same  species  with  that  figured  on  Plate 
15;  but  Dr.  Hitchcock  has  described  it  as  different,  under  the  name  of  Brontozoum 
minusculum.  Specimens  are  abundant  in  the  cabinet  at  Amherst. 

Length  of  step  twenty  to  twenty-seven  inches,  width  of  trackway  twelve  and  one 
half  inches. 


PLATE  XV. 

The  footprint  drawn  upon  this  Plate  is  that  of  a  gigantic  tridactylous  bird, 
that  lived  in  great  numbers  throughout  the  sandstone  period.  These  impressions 
are  most  abundant  at  Turner’s  Falls  and  South  Hadley  Falls,  and  they  indicate 
animals  that,  for  magnitude,  are  without  parallel  in  modern  times.  With  a  single 
exception,  perhaps  (PL  j/^),  they  were  doubtless  the  most  powerful  of  all  the 
animals  of  this  formation. 

This  enormous  footprint  is  formed  upon  the  true  ornithic  type,  having  the 
requisite  number  and  articulations  of  the  toes.  The  inner  toe  has  two,  the 
middle  three,  and  the  outer  four  phalanges,  exclusive  of  the  terminal  phalanges 
that  belong  to  the  claws.  The  first  phalanges  of  the  respective  toes  are  in 
contact,  but  the  extremities  of  the  lateral  toes  are  considerably  separated  from  the 
central  toe,  consequently  there  is  not  that  modification  of  form  of  the  toes,  caused 
by  contact  of  these  members,  that  occurs  in  other  large  examples  (PI.  13).  The 

6 


42 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


tubercle  of  the  tarso-metatarsal  bone,  supporting  the  outer  or  long  toe,  is  broad  and 
semicircular;  that  of  the  inner  toe  is  well  developed,  and  that  of  the  middle  is 
compressed  and  modified  by  the  contact  of  the  first  phalanges  of  the  respective  toes. 

This  is  a  fine  example  of  the  colossal  footprints.  Its  impress  is  superficial, 
but  for  that  reason  its  features  are  correctly  reflected.  These  immense  footprints 
are  usually  so  deeply  impressed  by  the  enormous  weight  of  the  creature,  as  to 
appear  much  larger  than  they  really  are.  By  sinking  into  the  unconsolidated 
stratum,  the  mud  is  so  rolled  out  in  all  directions  as  to  give  an  undue  proportion 
to  the  footprint.  In  these  cases  the  impress  is  rarely  or  never  accurate,  being 
more  or  less  modified  by  changes  that  subsequently  happened.  But  the  impress 
of  the  plate  is  the  true  image  of  the  foot.  Had  it  been  deeply  sunk  it  would 
be  more  prominent  to  the  eye,  and  its  apparent  magnitude  enhanced,  yet  it 
would  also  be  less  reliable.  As  it  is,  the  footprint  is  immense,  and  its  author 
has  no  living  successor ;  there  is  no  bird  known  with  this  enormous  development 
of  the  foot.  It  is  not,  however,  without  its  analogies.  Certain  bones  of  birds 
occur  in  the  northern  island  of  New  Zealand  of  a  race  not  remotely  extinct, 
having  a  foot  of  equal  magnitude  and  identical  in  its  system  of  articulations. 
The  Dinornis,  an  apterous  bird  fifteen  feet  high,  is  no  discreditable  successor  to 
the  sandstone  monsters. 

These  stupendous  birds  were  very  numerous  throughout  the  entire  period  of 
the  sandstone  deposition,  for  their  impressions  occur  at  intervals  in  the  ascending 
series  of  the  stratified  portion  of  the  rock,  from  the  bottom  to  the  top.  Their 
powerful  organization  preserved  them  from  annihilation  by  their  enemies ;  they 
had  no  equals,  and  they  were  the  rulers  of  their  time. 

The  footprint  above  described  by  Dr.  Deane  is  that  of  the  Brontozoum  gigan- 
teum  of  Hitchcock.  In  the  cabinet  at  Amherst  is  a  slab  from  Northampton  having  a 
row  of  seven  consecutive  tracks ;  and  there  are  many  others  there  of  this  species. 

One  of  the  largest  footprints  of  this  huge  animal  may  be  seen  in  the  collection  of 
the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History. 

Length  of  the  step  three  to  five  feet,  and  width  of  trackway  eighteen  inches. 


PLATE  XVI. 


This  is  a  photograph,  taken  directly  from  the  original  specimen  now  in  possession 
of  Mr.  Roswell  Field.  It  is  reduced  to  one  half  linear  size,  and  is  given  because  it 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


43 


shows  so  well  the  impression  made  by  the  integument  of  the  skin  upon  the  plastic  surface 
of  the  soiL 

The  species,  like  that  of  Plate  14,  is  the  Brontozoum  minusculum  of  Hitchcock. 


•  PLATE  XVII. 

A  photograph  of  the  same  species  as  the  last,  from  a  specimen  at  Amherst,  but  more 
reduced,  taken  to  show  the  impression  of  the  integument  of  the  skin. 


PLATE  XVIII. 

A  fine  footprint,  nowhere  particularly  described  by  Dr.  Deane,  and  which  appears 
different  from  any  figured  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  in  his  Ichnology,  unless,  indeed,  it  be  that  of 
a  hind  foot  of  his  species  the  Plesiornis  quadrupes.  A  beautiful  specimen  of  this 
form  and  character  may  be  seen  in  the  cabinet  at  Yale  College. 


PLATE  XIX. 

No  description  by  Dr.  Deane.  The  original  of  this  is  in  possession  of  Mr.  Roswell 
Field,  and  the  drawings  are  from  two  of  seven  consecutive  tracks.  These  impressions 
are  probably  those  of  the  animal  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  under  the  name  of  Apat- 
ichnus  circumagens.  See  Plate  34  and  description,  for  an  account  of  this  species. 


PLATE  XX. 

The  several  impressions  upon  this  plate  are  doubtless  the  footprints  of  birds, 
yet  they  do  not  sustain  an  intimate  comparison  with  the  other  ornithoid  footprints 
illustrated  in  this  paper.  The  resemblance  consists  merely  in  the  tridactylous 
character  of  the  feet.  They  represent  a  large  proportion  of  the  ornithoid  foot¬ 
prints  that  do  not  present  the  articular  division  of  the  toes.  This  class  of  foot¬ 
prints  offers  a  great  variety  of  modified  forms.  They  are  sometimes  distinguish¬ 
able  by  slender  lines  merely,  and  sometimes  they  are  much  bent  or  distorted. 
They  are  not  actual  impressions  of  the  foot,  but  are  changed  by  having  been 
made  upon  material  which  was  too  soft  to  retain  the  genuine  impress  of  the 
plantar  surface  of  the  foot.  When  the  foot  is  withdrawn  after  penetrating  the 


44 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


semifluid  mud,  there  is  a  settling  or  flowing  back  into  the  track,  that  obliterates 
the  phalangeal  impressions,  and  converts  the  impress  of  the  toes  into  grooved 
lines  merely.  If  this  variety  of  impress  happens  when  the  strata  are  thin  and 
fissile,  the  foot  often  penetrates  several  laminas,  and  leaves  a  rude  outline  of  the 
toes  in  each,  often  as  many  as  five  or  six  in  succession,  and  by  splitting  the 
strata  asunder,  each  shows  a  linear  impression  of  the  toes,  and  the  lowermost  of 

the  series  sometimes  retains  a  rude  form  of  the  articulation  of  the  toes.  Some¬ 
times,  too,  the  upper  series  exhibits  the  articulations  partially,  but  as  a  general 

rule  there  is  a  total  absence  of  the  true  markings  of  the  foot.  In  some  locali¬ 

ties  the  footprints  are  ruined  in  this  way,  the  entire  surfaces  of  the  fossil  strata 
being  cut  up  into  innumerable  impressions.  These  linear  footprints  often  occur 
upon  strata  that  are  remarkable  for  perfect  impressions  also,  the  first  being 
impressed  before,  and  the  latter  after,  consolidation  ensued.  Strata  often  occur 
with  footprints  of  different  degrees  of  perfection,  in  proportion  as  the  original 
clay  was  soft  or  hard. 

It  requires  some  discrimination  to  distinguish  between  the  genuine  impression 
and  that  modified  by  changes  occurring  subsequently  to  the  planting  of  the  foot; 
but  if  it  be  recollected  that  the  perfect  impression  should  invariably  bear  the 
markings  of  the  joints,  claws,  etc.,  no  error  need  be  committed  on  this  point. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that  the  examples  upon  the  Plate  are  due  to  birds, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  prove  them  to  be  so.  They  have  the  trifid  character 
and  general  symmetry  of  the  feet  of  birds,  and  there  the  comparison  ends. 
Their  imperfection  does  not  admit  of  specific  description.  It  is  not  possible  to 
distinguish  the  innumerable  forms  that  these  linear  imprints  assume.  Those 
delineated  upon  the  Plate  are  fair  specimens  of  this  class,  but  others  occur,  so 
defective  as  to  bear  little  resemblance  to  footprints. 

PLATES  XXI.  AND  XXII. 

These  were  drawn  from  the  footprints  of  existing  reptiles,  and  are  given  for  purposes 
of  comparison.  Those  on  Plate  21  represent  the  tracks  of  a  living  alligator. 


PLATE  XXIII. 

In  the  collection  of  Mr.  Roswell  Field,  at  Turner’s  Falls,  is  a  stone  having  nine 
tracks  of  an  animal  undoubtedly  of  the  same  species  as  the  one  of  which  footprints  are 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


45 


here  represented.  Other  specimens  may  be  seen  in  the  collection  at  Amherst.  Dr. 
Hitchcock  has  grouped  the  animal  among  the  lizards,  and  given  the  name  of  Ortho- 
dactylus  floriferus  to  the  species. 


PLATE  XXIV. 

Fig.  1.  An  outline  drawing  of  the  figures  of  this  plate  was  given  with  an  article 
on  the  Sandstone  Fossils  of  the  Connecticut  River  by  Dr.  Deane,  published  by  the 
American  Academy  in  1856.  He  there  says : 

The  impressions  have  remarkable  symmetry.  Four  thick,  tapering  toes  radiate 
forward,  and  in  the  hind  foot  the  impression  of  the  heel  is  prolonged  backward 
to  a  considerable  distance,  and  is  broad  and  flattened.  The  fore  foot  is  planted 
a  little  in  advance,  and  a  little  outward  of  the  hind  foot. 

These  footprints  agree  nearly  with  the  description  given  of  the  Macropterna 
divaricans  in  the  Ichnology  of  Massachusetts;  an  animal  classed  by  Dr.  Hitchcock 
among  the  Batrachians. 

Fig.  2.  The  impressions  here  given,  like  the  preceding,  may  be  found,  in  outline, 
upon  a  plate  published  by  Dr.  Deane  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy,  in  1856. 
He  at  that  time  remarked,  in  relation  to  it,  as  follows : 

The  hind  foot  consists  of  three  thick,  pointed  toes,  widely  spread,  and  a  short 
toe  pointing  inward.  The  heel  is  projected  backward,  and  terminates  in  a 
rounded  extremity.  The  anterior  foot  is  not  conformable  to  the  posterior.  Four 
toes,  two  pointing  forward  and  outward,  and  two  outward  and  backward. 

The  species  is,  possibly,  the  same  as  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  under  the  name  of 
Xyphopeza  triplex,  and  which  he  includes  among  lizards.  His  description  of  the 
generic  and  specific  characters  would  require  that  the  hind  toe  of  the  hind  foot  should 
extend  backward  rather  than  forward,  as  our  plate  shows  it  to  do. 

As  remarked  by  Dr.  Hitchcock,  the  animal  that  made  these  footprints  must  have  had 
a  body  of  considerable  width,  its  feet  having  been  placed  more  than  two  inches  apart 
in  walking. 


46 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


PLATE  XXV. 

Fig.  1.  Not  described  by  Dr.  Deane.  The  imprints  are  similar  to  those  of  Plate 
23,  and  possibly  were  made  by  an  animal  of  the  same  species. 

Fig.  2.  This  figure  is  given  in  Dr.  Deane’s  communication  upon  the  Sandstone 
Fossils  of  the  Connecticut  River  to  the  American  Academy,  in  1856.  He  there  says : 

It  is  an  exceedingly  perfect  impression  of  the  hind  foot  of  probably  a  Saurian 
animal,  having  a  Chirotherian  aspect,  but  the  relations  of  which  cannot  be  deter¬ 
mined  because  of  the  vestiges  of  the  fore  feet  not  being  known. 

Notwithstanding  the  above  remarks  of  Dr.  Deane,  we  think  he  gave,  in  the  same 
communication,  an  outline  drawing  of  the  track  of  a  hind  foot  of  the  same  species,  accom¬ 
panied  by  that  of  the  fore  foot.  However  this  may  be,  tracks  showing  impressions  of 
the  fore  feet  have  since  been  discovered,  and  the  animal  has  been  described  by  Dr.  Hitch¬ 
cock  under  the  name  of  Anisopus  Dewey  an  us.  For  consecutive  tracks  of  the  same 
species  see  Plate  26,  fig.  2. 

Fig.  3.  There  is  no  description  of  this  by  Dr.  Deane,  and  the  impressions  differ  in 
some  respects  from  those  of  any  animal  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  in  his  Ichnology. 

PLATE  XXVI. 

Fig.  1.  Outlines  of  these  impressions,  or  of  some  quite  similar,  were  given  in  Dr. 
Deane’s  communication  to  the  American  Academy  in  1856,  and  he  there  says : 

They  were  probably  made  by  a  Saurian.  The  toes  have  a  Chirotherian  look, 
thick  and  massive.  Feet  divergent.  The  fore  foot  planted  near  the  hind,  some¬ 
times  partially  obliterated  by  it.  Stride  very  great. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  thinks  the  animal  to  have  been  a  Marsupial,  and  has  described  it  in 
the  Ichnology  as  such,  giving  it  the  name  of  Anisopus  gracilis. 

Fig.  2.  Outline  drawings  of  the  impressions  of  a  fore  and  hind  foot  of  this  species 
are  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Deane’s  communication  to  the  American  Academy  in  1856,  and 
are  there  given  as  of  an  animal  probably  analogous  to  the  one  whose  footprints  are 
given  in  Fig.  1. 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


47 


This  species,  like  the  last,  Dr.  Hitchcock  considers  to  have  been  a  Marsupial,  and 
he  has  named  it  Anisopus  Deweyanus. 

Fine  slabs,  with  the  footprints  of  both  the  above  species,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
cabinet  at  Amherst. 


PLATE  XXVII. 

Fig.  1.  The  original  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Roswell  Field. 
The  stone  has  six  tracks,  but  two  of  which  are  given.  They  are  of  an  anomalous 
character. 


Fig.  2.  The  footprints  of  this  plate  are  of  ornithic  character,  and,  excepting  in  size, 
do  not  differ  from  those  of  the  Grallator  tenuis  of  Hitchcock.  See  Plate  4,  fig.  3. 

PLATE  XXVIII. 

Fig.  1.  This,  like  the  last  mentioned,  is  a  representation  of  the  track  of  apparently 
a  small  bird.  The  place  of  the  original  is  not  now  known. 

Fig.  2.  This  is  an  impression  made  by  a  tailed  quadruped,  possibly  the  Macrop- 
terna  vulgaris  of  Hitchcock.  The  surface  upon  which  these  tracks  were  made  was 
undoubtedly  of  soft  mud,  allowing  the  feet  of  the  animal  to  sink  deep,  and  consequently 
causing  a  distinct  imprint  of  the  tail.  The  specimen  from  which  the  drawing  was  made 
is  in  the  collection  of  Amherst. 

PLATE  XXIX. 

Fig.  1.  This  track  was  figured,  and  a  brief  account  of  it  given,  by  Dr.  Deane,  in 
the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy,  in  1856.  It  differs  in  some  respects  from  the 
description  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  of  that  made  by  the  Macropterna  gracilipes,  but  may 
be  the  same. 

Fig.  2.  A  representation  of  these  tracks  was  also  given  by  Dr.  Deane  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  American  Academy,  in  1856,  and  were  then  considered  by  him  to  have  been  made 
by  a  Batrachian.  Subsequently,  in  a  letter,  he  mentions  them  as  of  a  character  difficult 
to  determine.  They  may,  possibly,  have  been  made  by  an  animal  of  the  same  species  as 
the  last,  though  they  differ  somewhat  in  the  divarication  of  the  toes  and  in  the  width 
of  trackway. 


48 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


PLATE  XXX. 

Fig.  1.  The  impressions  of  this  figure,  as  well  as  those  of  the  next  mentioned, 
were  supposed  by  Dr.  Deane  to  have  been  made  by  biped  tailed  animals.  They  rep¬ 
resent  but  a  portion  of  those  upon  the  original  stone,  beyond  which  is  a  succession 
of  twelve  or  more  footprints.  Besides  these  and  the  impression  made  by  the  tail,  the 
surface  is  covered  over  with  the  markings  of  rain-drops ;  and,  what  is  peculiar,  the  tracks 
of  little  streamlets  made  by  a  combination  of  drops.  No  attempt,  of  course,  was  made 
to  represent  these  last  on  the  drawing,  but  they  render  the  slab  exceedingly  interesting. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  has  described  the  species  as  the  Selenichnus  breviusculus.  He 
judges  the  animal  to  have  been  a  Batrachian. 

The  stone  is  in  possession  of  Roswell  Field. 

Fig.  2.  This  drawing  represents  the  track  of  an  animal  of  similar  character  to  the 
last  mentioned,  and  may  be  found  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  under  the  name  of  Selen¬ 
ichnus  falcatus.  The  impressions  of  both  Figures  1  and  2  of  this  Plate  are  of  tracks 
made  in  soft  mud,  and  it  is  impossible  to  determine  by  them,  with  certainty,  whether 
they  were  made  by  a  biped  or  quadruped. 


The  quadrupedal  impressions  delineated  upon  Plates  31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  and 
36  are  distinctly  different  from  those  already  described,  and  constitute  a  peculiar 
group.  The  posterior  foot  is  ornithic  in  type,  that  is,  it  is  tridactylous,  and 
conforms  in  all  respects  to  that  of  birds.  The  anterior  foot  is  reptilian  in  its 
form  and  character.  The  impressions  all  agree  in  this  particular,  but  they  differ 
in  respect  to  the  relative  positions  in  which  they  occur,  and  indicate  distinct 
modes  of  locomotion  by  the  animals  making  them.  In  Plates  31  and  32  the 
movement  is  by  leaping,  in  Plates  33  and  34  it  is  by  walking,  as  in  the  higher 
grades  of  reptiles,  and  in  Plates  35  and  36  by  the  crawling  reptiles.  These 
impressions  will  repay  a  careful  analysis. 

PLATES  XXXI.  AND  XXXII. 

The  subjects  illustrated  by  these  Plates  are  among  the  most  interesting,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  perplexing  to  comprehend,  of  all  the  sandstone  vestiges. 
The  footprints  are  those  of  quadrupedal  reptiles,  of  a  distinct  order,  having  no 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


49 


analogies  to  the  other  quadrupedal  impressions  of  the  sandstone  rock.  The  points 
of  difference  consist  in  the  superior  magnitude  of  the  animals  making  them,  and 
in  the  obvious  fact  that  the  impressions  indicate  animals  whose  organization  was 
of  a  superior  grade,  and  whose  movements  were  of  a  more  complicated  char¬ 
acter.  All  other  quadrupedal  impressions  of  the  sandstone  rock  suggest  animals 
having  their  analogies  in  the  existing  orders  of  reptiles ;  but  these  are  of  a 
character  so  anomalous,  as  to  forbid  comparison  with  the  pedal  organs  of  known 
reptiles,  and,  consequently,  if  they  be  really  due  to  reptilian  animals,  they  indi¬ 
cate  a  new  and  separate  order  of  this  class.  If  the  distinctive  organizations 
of  the  animals,  as  indicated  by  the  footprints,  exclude  them  from  membership  in 
the  class  of  reptiles,  an  unavoidable  inference  assigns  them  to  the  mammalian 
class,  in  which  certain  types  exist  that  offer,  in  their  pedal  systems,  more 
plausible  grounds  of  comparison.  The  obscure  origin  of  these  remarkable  foot¬ 
prints,  and  their  intricate  combinations,  have  for  a  long  period  rendered  investi¬ 
gation  difficult  and  inconclusive ;  and  it  is  but  recently  that  the  full  complement 
of  impressions  due  to  each  individual  has  been  discovered.  A  brief  narrative 
of  the  discovery  of  the  separate  prints  that  constitute  the  completed  series  of 
impressions,  will  enable  the  reader  to  comprehend  the  difficulties  that  have 
embarrassed  investigation,  and  also  to  advance,  by  progressive  steps,  to  a  com¬ 
prehension  of  the  suite  of  impressions  that  indicate  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
of  the  sandstone  creatures. 

In  the  year  1842,  while  observing  the  process  of  rock  cuttings  at  Turner’s 
Falls,  my  attention  was  frequently  arrested  by  solitary  footprints,  having  five 
radiating  toes,  that  were  so  perfectly  defined  as  to  exhibit  their  phalangeal 
system.  Subsequently,  the  impressions  were  discovered  in  pairs,  planted  in  oppo¬ 
site  directions,  as  represented  at  the  right  of  Plate  32.  As  they  were  not  at 
first  seen  in  consecutive  series,  or  to  he  associated  with  other  impressions  subse¬ 
quently  developed,  their  character  was  enigmatical.  In  the  course  of  my  obser¬ 
vations,  the  oblong  concave  impressions  represented  in  the  lower  half  of  Plate 
31,  c  c,  which  were  supposed  to  be  made  by  the  metatarsi  of  the  animal,  were 
developed,  and,  being  associated  with  the  footprints  referred  to  at  the  right  of 
Plate  32,  it  was  presumed  that  the  creature  moved  by  a  succession  of  leaps,  and, 
dropping  upon  the  ground,  rested  upon  its  haunches  and  anterior  feet.  This 
inference  was  partly  correct;  but  it  subsequently  appeared  that  the  impressions 
c  c  of  Plate  31  were  each  connected  with  a  footprint,  b  b ;  and  it  was  then  clearly 

7 


50 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


demonstrated  that  the  animal  was  a  quadruped ;  that  the  double  impressions  on 
the  right  of  Plate  32  were  its  anterior,  and  b  b  of  Plate  31  its  posterior  feet, 
which  were  connected,  without  solution  of  continuity,  with  the  impressions  of 
the  metatarsi,  c  c.  From  a  long  range  of  observations,  extending  over  many 
years,  the  resulting  conclusions  were  irresistible  that  the  aggregated  impressions 
were  due  to  a  leaping  animal,  and  later  discoveries  corroborate  this  belief. 

The  discovery  of  another  singular  feature,  that  completes  the  entire  group 
of  impressions  due  to  the  animal,  has  been  but  recently  made ;  and  that  is,  the 
impress  of  the  terminal  extremity  of  the  vertebral  column,  or  of  the  truncated 
os  coccygis  (PL  31,  fig.  d).  The  impress  is  so  excellent  that  its  character  is 
unmistakable,  and  it  reveals  a  structural  organization  of  the  animal  that  is,  perhaps, 
without  existing  analogies.  Neither,  then,  is  Plate  31,  or  32,  separately,  complete ; 
but  combined,  they  include  the  aggregate  of  impressions  made  by  the  animal 
when  alighting  upon  the  earth,  by  leaping.  Plate  31  lacks  the  impress  of  the 
anterior  feet,  and  Plate  32  that  of  the  coccyx.  It  will  be  interesting  to  examine 
these  several  impressions  in  detail. 

The  anterior  feet,  Plate  32,  are  constituted  each  of  five  massive  radiating 
toes.  The  central  one  is  largest,  and  is  divided  into  four  phalanges,  the  two 
contiguous  ones  into  three,  and  the  two  lateral  ones  into  two,  each.  The  carpus 
that  supports  the  toes  does  not  leave  its  impress,  consequently  the  footprint  is 
digitigrade.  These  anterior  footprints  do  not  differ  essentially,  in  general  form 
and  arrangement,  from  the  corresponding  feet  of  certain  other  sandstone  reptiles ; 
the  number  and  form  of  the  toes  is  identical,  the  principal  point  of  difference 
consisting  in  magnitude. 

The  posterior  feet  are  upon  a  dissimilar  plan,  and  agree  accurately  with  the 
bipedal  tridactylous  footprints.  Like  the  footprints  of  birds,  the  inner  toe  has 
two,  the  middle  three,  and  the  outer  four,  phalanges,  and  each  toe  is  terminated 
by  a  stout  nail.  So  far,  then,  as  the  number,  form,  and  arrangement  of  the 
toes  are  concerned,  there  is  no  difference,  however  immaterial,  between  them  and 
those  of  birds.  But  the  impress  of  the  tarsus,  joined  in  an  unbroken  piece 
with  that  of  the  foot,  is  a  feature  that  never  exists  in  the  ornithic  foot¬ 
prints.  It  was  remarked  elsewhere,  that  when  the  foot  of  the  bird  penetrated 
deeply  into  the  unconsolidated  stratum,  the  inclined  position  of  the  leg  sinking 
with  the  foot  left  a  projecting  line  running  backward  from  the  foot,  corre¬ 
sponding  in  length  to  the  depth  which  the  foot  itself  sunk.  But  the  impress, 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


51 


under  these  circumstances,  is  invariably  imperfect,  whereas  the  impress  of  the 
tarsus,  represented  by  the  Plate,  is  definite  and,  like  that  of  the  foot,  unblemished. 
Its  terminal  extremity  is  oval  or  rounded,  and  deeper  and  broader  than  the 
proximal,  and  the  tubercles  of  bones  joining  the  lateral  toes  (figs,  c  c  of  PI. 
31)  are  distinctly  impressed.  When  the  creature  alighted  upon  the  ground,  it 
impressed  the  form  of  the  posterior  foot  and  metatarsus,  conjoined. 

But  the  most  remarkable  feature  in  this  assemblage  of  impressions  is  the 
impress  of  the  os  coccygis  (PI.  31,  fig.  D).  It  is  heart-shaped,  the  apex  pointing 
forward,  and  its  position,  in  regard  to  the  tarso-pedal  impressions,  is  central;  and 
its  flattened  or  slightly  concave  impress  indicates  that  the  tail,  or  coccyx,  of 
the  creature  terminated  abruptly,  near  to  its  junction  with  the  pelvic  bones. 
That  the  author  of  these  compound  impressions  moved  by  leaping,  is  not  only 
inferred  from  their  formal  arrangement,  but  is  proved  conclusively  by  certain 
phenomena  presented  by  the  photograph*  (PI.  31).  The  momentum  or  propulsion  of 
the  animal  was  such  as  to  drive  it  far  forward  after  its  posterior  feet  had  touched 
the  earth.  The  right  foot  grazed  the  ground  to  a  considerable  extent  ere  it 
assumed  a  state  of  rest.  The  first  contact  of  the  toes  with  the  ground  occurs 
at  b  Ik  which  mark  the  furrow  or  trail  produced  by  these  slipping  members, 
and  a  a  are  similar  grooves  caused  by  the  nails  of  the  lateral  toes.  The  original 
specimen  is  fifteen  times  greater  than  the  photograph,  and  the  extent  of  earth 
really  brushed  by  the  toes  is  more  than  twelve  inches.  Another  fact  concurs 
to  prove  that  the  foot  B  slipped  upon  the  stratum,  in  consequence  of  the  momen¬ 
tum  by  which  the  animal  moved,  as  is  seen  in  the  accumulation  of  mud  anteriorly 
to  the  foot,  which  is  gathered  into  massive  ridges.  These  facts  are  conclusive, 
that  the  foot  touched  the  earth  while  the  animal  was  moving  with  velocity 
and  force. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  among  existing  reptiles  the  prototype  of  the  creature 
that  impressed  these  singular  footprints.  Leaping  animals  are  indeed  found  in 
this  class,  but  their  feet  present  no  analogies  to  those  under  consideration.  Among 
the  lower  grades  of  the  mammalian  class  of  animals,  certain  types  occur,  that 
offer,  in  their  pedal  systems  and  mode  of  locomotion,  a  plausible  basis  of  com¬ 
parison,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  marsupial  tubes.  The  feet  of  the  kangaroo 
are  conformable,  as  to  the  number  and  arrangement  of  the  toes,  and  the  meta¬ 
tarsus,  like  that  of  the  fossil  impressions,  is  formed  of  a  single  bone,  which  rests 
upon  the  earth  with  the  foot,  and  leaves  with  it  its  conjoined  impress.  The 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


r.o 


posterior  foot  is  tridactyl  oils,  the  middle  toe  greatly  predominating.  There  are 
five  radiating  toes  for  the  anterior  foot.  In  the  usual  leaping  movements  of 
the  kangaroo,  the  posterior  feet  only  are  used ;  but  in  a  state  of  rest,  the  anterior 
feet  touch  the  earth,  as  they  also  do  in  a  kind  of  hopping  movement  peculiar 
to  the  creature,  when  undisturbed,  or  when  seeking  its  food.  Its  tail  also  rests 
upon  the  earth,  giving  support  when  sitting,  and  assisting  the  muscular  action 
of  the  legs  when  making  its  powerful  leaps. 

Under  all  the  relations  of  the  footprints  to  the  pedal  systems  of  the  kangaroo, 
the  presumption  is  very  strong  that  the  animals  making  them  rank  at  the 
bottom  of  the  mammalian  class  of  animals. 

To  the  above  description  of  Dr.  Deane  may  be  added,  for  readier  comparison,  that 
the  original  specimen  of  Plate  31,  which  he  states  to  be  fifteen  times  greater  than  the 
photograph,  shows  the  impressions  of  the  footmarks  to  be  about  four  times  longer  than 
the  representations  of  them  in  the  Plate.  They  are,  indeed,  of  about  double  the  magni¬ 
tude  of  those  given,  of  natural  size,  in  Plate  32,  and  which  were  lithographed  from  a 
fine  specimen  in  the  possession  of  T.  Leonard,  Esq.,  of  Greenfield.  Dr.  Hitchcock  con¬ 
siders  the  tracks  to  be  those  of  two  species,  and  has  described  them  respectively,  under 
the  names  of  Anomaepus  major  and  Anomsepus  minor. 


PLATES  XXXIII.  AND  XXXIV. 

The  footprints  delineated  upon  Plates  33  and  34  are  quadrupedal,  and  indi¬ 
cate  an  unknown  organization  of  the  animals  by  which  they  were  impressed. 
They  are  allied  to  the  footprints  upon  Plates  31  and  32,  the  posterior  feet  being 
ornithic,  and  the  anterior  feet  reptilian.  They  are  distinguished  from  them  by 
the  absence  of  the  tarsal  impress,  and  by  a  difference  of  mode  by  which  the 
animal  moved,  being  in  Plates  31  and  32  by  leaping,  and  in  those  now  under 
consideration  by  walking.  In  the  impressions  upon  Plates  33  and  34,  there  is 
no  appreciable  difference  between  the  posterior  feet  and  the  feet  of  certain  living 
birds,  the  osseous  divisions  of  the  toes  being  identical.  The  anterior  feet,  although 
upon  the  same  plan  as  those  upon  Plates  31  and  32,  have  four  toes  only.  In 
walking,  the  anterior  foot  is  placed  upon  the  inner  aspect  of  the  posterior  foot, 
and  it  stands  directly  outward.  In  Plate  34  it  is  in  advance  of  the  foot;  in 
Plate  33  it  is  within  and  behind ;  and,  in  tracing  a  continuous  line  of  the 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


53 


footprints,  the  position  of  the  posterior  foot  is  in  uniform  correspondence  with 
that  of  a  bird,  while  at  the  same  time  it  is  attended  by  its  companion,  as  repre¬ 
sented  by  the  Plates. 

These  singular  impressions,  like  those  upon  Plates  31  and  32,  are  entitled 
to  particular  consideration,  inasmuch  as  they  suggest  doubts  as  to  an  ornithic 
origin  of  the  bipedal  footprints.  The  posterior  trifid  feet  are  just  as  susceptible 
of  comparison  with  the  feet  of  living  birds,  as  those  bipedal  impressions  that 
have  been  with  great  reason  supposed  to  belong  to  birds ;  but,  being  associated 
with  other  impressions  of  reptilian  character,  it  is  certain  that  the  animal  could 
have  no  affinities  with  birds,  but  belonged  to  a  distinct  race. 

It  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  presumption  that  the  footprints  upon  Plates  31, 
32,  33,  and  34  were  impressed  by  animals  that  were  identical,  except  so  far  as 
they  were  distinguished  by  specific  difference,  and  that  they  could  jump  like  the 
kangaroo,  or  walk  as  quadrupeds,  and,  perhaps,  as  bipeds.  If  the  creatures  impress¬ 
ing  Plates  33  and  34  could  move  by  leaping,  they  would  produce  the  same  series 
of  impressions  as  upon  Plates  31  and  32 ;  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  order 
be  reversed,  the  latter  walking  as  quadrupeds,  the  impressions  would  be  identical 
with  those  of  Plates  33  and  34 ;  and  there  can  be  no  question  that,  if  any  of 
these  creatures  walked  erect,  they  would  produce  impressions  in  no  way  different 
from  those  supposed  to  be  due  to  birds.  From  the  intimate  relations  of  the 
two  sets  of  impressions,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  their  authors  possessed 
common  attributes,  and  could  either  walk  or  jump  at  pleasure. 

If  it  could  be  further  proved  that  these  animals  possessed  the  power  of 
walking  upon  their  posterior  feet  alone,  the  question  of  the  ornithic  origin  of  the 
sandstone  footprints  would  be  definitely  settled.  If  the  posterior  feet  of  Plates 
33  and  34  were  disconnected  from  their  associated  reptilian  impressions,  they 
would  at  once,  upon  the  rules  of  comparison,  be  pronounced  to  be  ornithic. 
Prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  ornithic-reptilian  impressions,  no  fact  has  ever 
occurred  to  disturb  the  theory  of  the  ornithic  character  of  the  tridactylous  foot¬ 
prints,  for  the  grounds  upon  which  this  belief  rested  seemed  impregnable.  But 
a  combination  of  ornithoid  and  reptilian  footprints  proves  that  a  portion  of  the 
sandstone  animals,  having  ornithic  feet,  can  have  no  relation  to  birds ;  and  this 
fact  raises  a  strong  presumption,  that  the  other  portion  may  yet,  by  future  dis¬ 
covery,  be  determined  to  belong  to  quadrupeds. 

There  is  an  incidental  circumstance,  entitled  to  some  consideration  in  deter- 


54 


IC II  NOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


mining  the  organization  of  the  sandstone  animals.  Among  the  multitude  of  foot¬ 
prints,  not  one,  in  thousands  of  them,  presents  the  impress  of  the  tegumentary 
papillae  of  the  toes.  In  the  great  number  I  have  studied,  I  have  seen  very 
few  examples,  and  one  of  them  is  the  photograph  Plate  16.  However  perfect 
the  impression,  the  pressure  of  the  toes  has  produced  only  a  smooth,  unbroken 
surface.  The  absence  of  this  feature  is  certainly  a  negative  proof  against  an 

ornithic  origin.  It  might  be  supposed  that  birds  so  gigantic  as  those  to  which 

these  impressions  are  ascribed,  if  they  were  fitted  to  traverse  the  land,  would 
possess  the  same  organizations  as  occur  in  existing  types.  The  smoothness  of 
the  dermoid  coverings  of  the  toes  would  of  itself  indicate  that  the  animals  were 
constituted  for  the  water  rather  than  the  land.  In  the  fine  photograph,  Plate 
16,  the  style  of  the  dermoid  markings  does  not  correspond  to  that  of  existing 
land  birds.  The  integuments  appear  to  be  marked  in  fine  lozenge-shaped  checks, 
and  not  by  those  round,  prominent  points  that  characterize  the  feet  of  terrestrial 
birds.  It  might,  however,  be  supposed  that  the  impress  of  such  minute  bodies 

would  not  be  retained  by  the  materials  of  the  stratum ;  but  the  most  delicate 

objects,  as  the  feet  of  insects  and  the  minute  rays  of  fishes’  fins,  are  accurately 
preserved. 

To  the  above  remarks  by  Dr.  Deane  we  will  add,  that  Plate  33  represents  the  species 
described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  the  PI  e  si  o  mis  qua  drupes.  Plate  34,  figs.  1  and  2, 
represent  impressions  of  the  animal  described  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  the  Apatichnus 
circumagens.  The  specimens  are  in  the  collection  of  Roswell  Field,  Esq. 

PLATES  XXXV.  AND  XXXVI. 

Like  the  footprints  upon  the  four  preceding  Plates,  those  upon  Plate  35  are 
also  of  compound  character,  tridactylous  behind  and  reptilian  before.  They  indicate 
animals  of  unknown  type.  It  is  evident  that  they  moved  by  crawling.  The 

posterior  foot  is  analogous  to  the  feet  of  some  living  birds,  and  does  not  differ 

from  those  sandstone  footprints  that  have  been  described  as  due  to  birds.  The 

anterior  foot  has  four  toes,  and  is  reptilian  in  its  character.  It  points  outward, 
and  falls,  in  walking,  a  little  in  advance  of  the  posterior  foot.  The  relative 
positions  of  the  right  and  left  feet  vary  essentially  from  those  of  the  preceding 
Plates.  In  Plates  33  and  34,  the  feet  fall,  in  walking,  in  a  direct  line  nearly, 
while  the  right  and  left  feet,  in  Plate  35,  are  broadly  separated.  All  the  feet 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


55 


drag  upon  the  ground,  and  the  body  of  the  creature  was  therefore  but  slightly 

elevated.  The  position  and  trailing  movements  of  the  feet  suggest  some  analogy 

to  existing  testudinate  types,  but  the  character  of  the  feet  forbids  this  inference. 

Among  the  sandstone  fossils  there  are  really  none  that  indicate  tortoises,  although 

a  different  opinion  has  formerly  been  held.  The  evidence  upon  which  this  infer¬ 
ence  rests,  consists  in  the  frequent  occurrence  of  parallel  grooves  or  furrows  (PI. 
36),  broadly  separated,  that  have  been  produced  by  the  feet  and  legs  of  an 
animal  moving  over  soft  mud,  probably  beneath  water.  The  discovery  of  the 
fine  specimen  drawn  upon  Plate  35  explains  the  cause  of  these  double  rows  of 
furrows  (PI.  36),  for  it  may  be  supposed,  that  if  the  animal  to  which  the  impres¬ 
sions  (PL  35)  were  due,  sank  deeply  into  the  soft  ground,  the  dragging,  of  each 
set  of  feet  would  produce  the  impressions  of  the  deep  grooves  that  have  been 
supposed  to  indicate  the  existence  of  tortoises.  Although  in  these  cases  the 
impress  of  the  feet  are  not  preserved,  their  places  are  accurately  marked,  occurring 
in  regular  alternation  from  side  to  side.  If  a  tortoise  were  thus  to  sink,  its 
solid  body  would  plow  through  the  mud  and  leave  a  distinct  trace,  a  con¬ 
dition  I  have  never  seen. 

In  the  present  state  of  information,  it  is  impossible  to  comprehend  the 
analogies  of  the  animal  making  the  impressions  upon  Plate  35. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  describes  the  animal  that  made  the  impressions  represented  on  Plate 
35  under  the  name  of  Tarsodactylus  caudatus.  The  impressions  figured  on  Plate 
36,  he  refers  to  a  species  of  his  genus  Helcura. 

The  original  of  Plate  35  is  in  possession  of  Amherst  College. 

PLATE  XXXVII. 

The  footprint  that  forms  the  subject  of  this  Plate  is  remarkable  for  magni¬ 
tude,  being  seventeen  inches  in  length  and  eleven  in  breadth.  It  indicates  the 
most  colossal  of  all  the  sandstone  animals.  Tridactylous  footprints  occur  of  equal 
length,  but  for  solid,  massive  proportions,  this  is  unequalled.  The  impress  is 
very  perfect,  and  shows  the  osseous  divisions  of  the  foot.  There  are  four  ponder¬ 
ous  toes,  joined  in  contact  to  the  heel.  They  do  not  materially  differ  in  length  ; 
the  two  central  are  longest,  and  project  further  forward  than  the  lateral,  which, 
in  turn,  project  furthest  behind.  They  are  symmetrically  arranged,  are  in  con- 


56 


IC II  NOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


tact,  and  are  nearly  parallel.  The  central  toes  are  divided  into  live  articulations, 
and  the  lateral  into  four  each,  and  neither  are  surmounted  with  claws.  The 
heel  is  distinctly  impressed;  it  is  massive,  broad,  and  nearly  as  long  as  the  toes. 
The  stride  is  about  three  and  one  half  feet,  and  the  body  of  the  animal  was 
therefore  considerably  elevated.  These  are  the  prominent  features  of  this  remark¬ 
able  footprint. 

There  is  no  fore  foot  accompanying  it,  and  the  inference  is,  that  the  creature 
was  a  biped.  It  is  difficult  to  say  which  the  impression  resembles  most,  the 
footprint  of  a  bird  or  reptile.  The  style  of  locomotion  is  that  of  a  bird,  but 
the  structure  of  the  foot  does  not  conform  with  that  of  birds.  Neither  does 
it  conform  with  that  of  reptiles,  and  has  no  known  analogies  to  any  living  animals. 
The  organizations  and  instincts  of  the  creature  cannot,  therefore,  be  comprehended. 
It  was  probably  some  gigantic  reptile  that  very  rarely  visited  the  grounds  upon 
which  the  other  sandstone  animals  congregated.  The  broad,  clawless  feet  suggest 
the  hypothesis  that  these  organs  might  be  used  for  propulsion  in  water,  as  well 
as  in  walking  upon  land,  and  that  the  animal  might  be  some  enormous  amphibian. 
Its  organization  was  peculiar  to  its  time.  In  the  transition  period  of  the  sand¬ 
stone  deposition,  there  doubtless  existed  animals  whose  organizations  have  not 
been  transmitted  to  succeeding  ages.  All  paleozoic  eras  have  been  identified 
by  animals  peculiar  to  each ;  and  in  this  respect  the  sandstone  epoch  forms  no 
exception.  It  was  an  era  replete  with  wonderful  beings,  and  the  combinations 
and  varieties  of  the  living  organisms  were  truly  amazing.  The  character  and 
habits  of  a  portion  of  the  animals  may  be  inferred  with  confidence ;  but  that 
of  another  portion,  among  which  is  the  monster  indicated  by  the  footprint  of 
this  Plate,  is  veiled  in  profound  mystery. 

Since  the  above  remarks  were  written  by  Dr.  Deane,  the  huge  animal  that  made 
the  tracks  has  been  shown  to  have  been  quadrupedal,  by  the  discovery  of  impressions 
of  the  fore  feet.  Dr.  Hitchcock  has  described  it  in  his  great  work  on  the  Ichnology  of 
Massachusetts,  as  the  Otozoum  Moodii.  He  arranges  it  under  the  order  of  Batrachians, 
but  thinks  it  has,  “  combined  in  its  nature,  characteristics  now  distributed  among  several 
different  families  of  animals.” 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


57 


PLATE  XXXVIII. 

Fig.  1.  Drawings  in  outline  of  the  tracks  here  represented  were  given  by  Dr.  Deane 
in  his  communication  to  the  American  Academy,  in  1856.  He  then  supposed  them  to 
have  been  made  by  a  Batrachian,  the  impressions  of  the  anterior  feet  not  being  retained. 
Subsequently,  he  judged  them  to  have  been  made  by  a  biped. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  thinks  the  impressions  to  be  Chelonian,  and  has  described  them  in  the 
Ichnology  as  of  an  animal  which  he  calls  the  Exocampe  ornata. 

Fig.  2.  Drawings  in  outline  of  these  tracks  were  also  given  by  Dr.  Deane,  in  the 
communication  above  referred  to.  Like  the  last  mentioned,  he  judged  them  to  have  been 
made  by  a  Batrachian. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  ascribes  them  to  an  animal  belonging  to  the  group  of  lizards,  which 
he  calls  the  Orthodactylus  linearis. 

The  specimen  here  represented  is  in  the  cabinet  of  Amherst. 

PLATE  XXXIX. 

The  impressions  shown  on  this  Plate,  Dr.  Deane  supposed  to  have  been  made  by  a 
bipedal  reptile.  The  stone  is  in  the  collection  of  Amherst.  In  the  Ichnology  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  the  animal  is  classed  among  the  Chelonians,  and  has  received  from  Dr.  Hitchcock 
the  name  of  Exocampe  arct a. 


PLATE  XL. 

This  Plate  and  the  next  succeeding  present  a  series  of  photographic  delineations  of 
the  tracks  of  insects,  or  possibly  of  small  crustaceans.  Of  all  the  impressions  upon  the 
sandstone  of  the  Connecticut  Valley,  perhaps  none  have  excited  more  astonishment  upon 
the  minds  of  beholders,  than  have  those  of  which  figures  are  here  given.  The  perfect 
portrayal  of  the  original  stones  presented  by  these  Plates  is  remarkable. 

Dr.  Deane  gave  some  account  of  these  impressions  in  his  communication  to  the 
American  Academy,  in  1856,  accompanying  it  with  some  Plates  ;  and  Dr.  Hitchcock  has 
since  named,  and  more  fully  described  them,  in  his  Ichnology  of  Massachusetts. 

The  names  applied  by  him,  as  far  as  recognized,  are  here  given. 

Fig.  1.  Acanthichnus  saltatorius;  specimen  in  the  collection  of  Roswell  Field. 

Fig.  2.  Conopsoides  larvalis  (?),  from  a  specimen  in  the  possession  of  Amherst 
College. 


8 


58 


ICHNOGRAPHS  OF  THE 


Fig.  3.  Acanthichnus  tardigradus,  from  a  specimen  in  the  possession  of  Am¬ 
herst  College. 

Fig.  4.  (?).  From  a  specimen  in  the  collection  of  Amherst  College. 

Fig.  5.  Hexapodichnus  m  a  gnus;  specimen  in  the  collection  of  Roswell  Field. 

PLATE  XLI. 

Fig.  1.  Lithographus  hieroglyph icus,  from  a  specimen  in  the  collection  of 
Roswell  Field. 

Fig.  2.  Bifurculapes  tuberculatus,  from  specimen  in  collection  of  Roswell  Field. 

Fig.  3.  Conopsoides  larvalis,  from  specimen  in  the  collection  of  Roswell  Field. 

Fig.  4.  Bifurculapes,  from  specimen  in  the  possession  of  Wm.  Clark,  of  St.  Louis. 

Figs.  5  and  6.  Bifurculapes  laqueatus.  Both  these  figures,  taken  from  dif¬ 
ferent  parts  of  one  stone,  in  the  possession  of  Roswell  Field. 


PLATE  XLII. 

Fig.  1.  The  stone  from  which  this  figure  was  lithographed  is  in  the  collection  of 
the  late  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren,  of  Boston. 

Fig.  2.  A  part  of  the  stone  having  this  track  is  in  the  possession  of  Roswell  Field. 

Fig.  3.  (?). 

PLATE  XLII I. 

The  impression  here  photographed  is  one  of  anomalous  character,  and  Dr.  Deane 
thought  it  impossible  to  decipher  it. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  thinks  it  the  imprint  of  some  species  of  fish,  to  which  he  gives  the 
name  of  Ptilichnus  anomalus. 

The  Plate  represents  the  impression  the  size  of  the  original. 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


59 


PLATE  XLIV. 

The  four  photographs  of  this  Plate  represent  a  continuous  impression  upon  the 
original  stone,  now  in  possession  of  Roswell  Field,  and  the  sections  should  be  joined 
together  in  the  order  they  are  lettered. 

Dr.  Deane  regarded  this  as  the  trail  of  some  animal,  made  beneath  the  water.  Others 
have  judged  it  to  be  of  vegetable  origin. 

PLATE  XL V. 

Photographs  of  impressions  of  recent  rain-drops,  for  comparison. 


PLATE  XL VI. 

Photograph  of  the  impression  of  rain-drops  on  the  sandstone.  Fine  specimens  are 
very  common  in  the  collections  of  Amherst,  Roswell  Field,  and  the  Boston  Society  of 
Natural  History. 


REMARKS. 

The  student  of  the  preceding  pages  will  have  noticed,  that  among  the  tracks  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  text  of  Dr.  Deane  as  made  by  birds,  there  are  some  which  have  since  been 
classed  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  reptilian.  Of  these  may  be  instanced  Plate  5,  and  Plate  6, 
fig.  1,  as  illustrations.  Dr.  Deane  left  no  full  description  of  many  of  the  impressions  of 

this  volume,  but  it  may  be  stated,  that,  at  an  early  period  of  his  observations,  he  regarded 

all  the  tracks  represented  on  the  Plates,  from  3  to  20  inclusive,  as  unquestionably  of 
ornithic  character. 

In  the  progress,  however,  of  his  labors,  he  found  reason  to  distrust  his  early  conclusions, 

and  the  writer  has  a  letter  written  by  him  to  a  friend  in  1857,  in  which  he  says :  — 

“  My  investigations,  since  I  commenced,  have  revealed  some  remarkable  facts,  and  1 
am  not  sure  but,  in  the  end,  the  ornithic  doctrine  of  the  footprints  must  be  abandoned. 
Several  facts  have  recently  come  to  light,  that  have  a  distinct  bearing  upon  this  question. 
Footprints  are  found  associated  with  a  trail,  or  a  fine  grooved  line  running  from  one 
foot  to  another,  that  cannot  be  explained  upon  any  supposition  other  than  that  the  animal 


60 


ICHNO GRAPHS  OF  THE 


had  a  tail.  If  this  grooved  furrow  shall  be  found  to  have  been  produced  by  a  tail,  it 
will  settle  the  fact  that  the  impressions  were  not  due  to  birds.  But  a  still  more  decisive 
circumstance  lies  in  the  discovery  of  ornithic  footprints  and  reptilian  footprints  combined ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  posterior  feet  were  ornithic,  and  the  anterior  reptilian.  This  extra¬ 
ordinary  combination  is  the  first  fact  that  has  ever  thrown  a  doubt  upon  the  ornithic 
origin  of  the  tracks.  It  is  certain  that  an  animal  existed  having  the  feet  both  of  birds 
and  reptiles ;  a  quadruped,  with  anterior  feet  of  five  toes  each,  and  posterior  feet  of  three 
toes.  Separated  from  the  reptilian  impressions  of  the  fore  feet,  no  one  could  hesitate, 
for  a  moment,  to  pronounce  the  posterior  imprints  ornithic,  upon  the  strict  laws  of 
analogy.” 

Further  than  this  ;  in  some  remarks  in  his  Memoir,  Dr.  Deane  implies,  that  in  the 
contingency  of  certain  discoveries  (just  such  as  have  been  since  made),  the  whole  theory 
of  the  ornithic  character  of  any  of  the  footprints  would  be  overthrown.  It  seems  proper 
to  quote  here  this  remarkable  prediction,  now  likely,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  to  be 
verified.  Already  has  an  article  appeared  in  Silliman’s  Journal  sustaining  the  view  that 
none  of  the  footprints  were  made  by  birds ;  and  this  by  Roswell  Field,  whose  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  observation  and  study  are  not  surpassed  by  those  of  any  other  man.  Dr. 
Deane,  referring  to  Plates  31  to  34  inclusive,  says :  “  The  singular  resemblance  of  the 
posterior  feet,  in  these  remarkable  forms  of  the  quadrupedal  footprints,  to  those  of  ornithic 
varieties,  is  a  circumstance  of  significant  meaning,  associated,  as  they  are,  with  footprints 
of  unquestionable  reptilian  type.  If  it  shall  be  proved  by  future  discoveries  that  the 
animals  making  these  complicated  impressions  possessed  the  additional  power  of  walking 
upon  their  posterior  feet  alone,  the  ornithic  theory  of  the  footprints  would  be  settled  in 
a  summary  manner,  impregnable  as  it  now  seems  to  be.” 

The  substance  of  this  he  again  repeats  in  his  description  of  Plates  33  and  34. 

Now,  with  the  purpose  of  giving  to  the  reader  an  important  fact  in  relation  to  the 
animals  that  have  left  their  impressions  upon  the  sandstone,  as  well  as  to  show  how 
much  reason  Dr.  Deane  would  have  found,  had  he  lived,  to  assume  the  ground  that 
none  of  the  footprints  were  made  by  birds,  it  may  be  stated  that  Mr.  Roswell  Field  has 
now  in  his  possession  a  slab  with  a  series  of  tracks  upon  it,  most  of  which  appear  to 
have  been  made  by  a  bird,  as  clearly  so  as  any  that  are  found.  The  footprints  follow 
each  other  in  the  requisite  order,  the  right  alternating  with  the  left,  and  they  have  all 
the  usual  ornithic  characters  in  the  number  of  toes  impressed,  and  in  the  number  of 
phalanges  of  the  several  toes.  In  the  progress  of  the  animal  over  the  surface,  he  seems 
at  one  place  to  have  stopped ;  for  the  footprints,  instead  of  following  each  other  in  the 
manner  of  the  first,  are  brought  side  by  side,  or  nearly  so;  and  here  they  exhibit  them¬ 
selves,  not,  however,  as  before,  but  as  having  a  long  heel  on  which  they  rest,  precisely 
as  do  the  marsupials  of  our  day,  and  as  the  animals  did  that  made  the  impressions  on 
Plates  31  and  32.  Yet  more.  Just  in  advance  of  these  impressions  are  two  others, 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER  SANDSTONE. 


61 


smaller,  and  of  different  character  altogether;  in  fact,  impressions  of  fore  feet,  showing 
the  animal  to  have  been  a  quadruped;  most  likely  a  reptilian,  but  possibly  a  marsupial. 
Succeeding  these  last  are  other  tracks,  like  the  first  mentioned,  showing  the  animal  had 
resumed  an  advancing  motion. 

Now  this  case  is  precisely  such  as  supplies  the  contingency  required  to  settle,  in  the 
estimation  of  Dr.  Deane,  the  question  of  the  ornithic  character  of  the  footmarks. 

There  is  one  other  point  which  the  writer  will  refer  to.  Dr.  Deane  considered  some 

of  the  impressions  to  have  been  made  by  bipedal  reptiles,  and  so  described  them,  which 
have  since  been  shown  to  have  been  made  by  quadrupeds.  As  in  the  case  of  the  bird 
tracks,  so  called,  so  of  these  it  may  be  stated,  that  discoveries  have  been  made  since 

he  wrote,  which  would  have  changed  his  views  respecting  the  animals  to  whom  they 

owed  their  origin. 

In  the  case  of  the  Otozoum  (see  Plate  37  and  description),  a  specimen  exhibiting 
the  tracks  of  the  fore  feet  has  recently  been  presented  to  the  Ichnological  Cabinet  of 
Amherst. 

One  reason  why  there  are  not  full  descriptions  of  all  the  footprints  by  Dr.  Deane, 
rather  than  of  a  portion  of  them,  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  he  was  constantly 
making  new  discoveries  in  relation  to  them.  This  led  him  to  delay  writing  the  text 
for  the  plates,  as  he  reasonably  judged  that  every  additional  day’s  investigation  might 
enable  him  to  make  his  descriptions  more  serviceable. 

The  writer  has  felt  that  justice  to  Dr.  Deane  required  that  these  remarks  should 
be  appended  to  the  descriptions  given ;  and  he  hopes  they  may  not  be  found  entirely 
useless,  in  the  further  purpose  of  imparting  a  little  additional  matter  of  interest  con¬ 
cerning  the  foot-prints. 


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